Union  Book  Sto 
148  Clay  st. 
^an  Francisco. 


■li-v-ftV^* 


> 


LIBRARY 

OF  THK  , 

University  of  California-. 

Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

'  Received  October,  i8g4. 
Accessions  Nb.v^  y^*^  /  ^.      Class  No,  - 


'V: 


■■^:  -$ 


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1 
% 


.^r^.y 


SIMS  OF  THE  TIMES 


LETTERS  TO  ERNST  MORITZ  ARNDT 


DANGERS  TO  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY 


PRESENT  STATE  OF  THE  WORLD. 


CHRISTIAN  CHARLES  JOSIAS  BUNSEN, 

en.,  i).c.L.,  D.pn, 


TEANBLATED  FBOM  THE  GEBMAN  BY 

SUSANNA    WINKWORTH, 

AITTHOB  OF   "THE  LIKE  OF  NIRBUHB,"  ETC. 


NEW    YOKK: 
HARPER  &  BROTHERS, 

329  TO  335  PEARL  STREET. 


1850. 


;tJ»I7BESIT7] 


ys'i^ 


TO    THE 


25th   of   SEPTEMBER,    1855, 


THE     TRICENTENARY 


RELIGIOUS    PEACE    OF    AUGSBURG. 


E  PUE  81  MirOVE.' 


TRANSLATOR'S    PREFACE. 


Had  the  name  of  the  author  of  the  work  now  before 
us  been  as  unknown  in  England  as  it  is  well  known 
and  honored,  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  present 
translation  would  still  be  found  in  the  fact  of  the 
importance  attached  to  the  work  by  public  opinion 
in  Germany.  As  an  illustration  of  this  it  is  enough 
to  mention  that  the  first  edttion  of  2,500  copies  was 
disposed  of  within  a  month  from  publication,  and  a 
third  edition  was  required  within  three  months ;  while 
the  author  was  requested  to  become  a  candidate  for 
the  representation  of  the  capital,  and  of  Magdeburg, 
and  actually  elected  in  the  latter  city,  though  he 
had  in  both  cases  revised  to  be  put  in  nomination. 
Some  of  the  questions  of  which  this  book  treats 
have,  indeed,  an  immediate  and  painful  practical 
interest  in  Germany,  such  as,  happily  for  us,  they  do 
not  possess  in  England;  but  the  general  principles 
upon  which  their  decision  ought  to  rest,  are  as 
important  to  us  as  to  the  author's  fellow-countrymen ; 


vi  PREFACE. 

and  it  affects  the  permanent  well-being  of  our  Church 
and  State,  no  less  than  theirs,  that  just  and  clear 
conceptions  on  these  points  should  be  generally 
prevalent  among  the  people  at  large.  I  think  it 
may  conduce  to  this  result  to  contemplate  these 
subjects  in  pictures  drawn  from  other  lands  and 
foreign  social  conditions,  where  consequently  our 
perceptions  may  be  undimmed  by  th^  mists  of 
personal  and  party  prejudice  that  hang  around 
our  own  horizon;  and  I  believe  that  we  may  learn 
some  useful  lessons  from  beholding  the  logical 
development  and  working  out  of  ideas  which  have 
i^eir  root  in  a  temper  and  spirit  not  wholly  extinct 
here,  if  existing  for  the  most  part  latently,  or  even 
unconsciously. 

It  is  possible  that  the  historical  details  respecting 
the  internal  development  of  the  Prussian  Church, 
into  which  the  author  enters  at  considerable  length 
in  the  last  letter,  may  be  found  somewhat  dry 
by  those  living  at  so  great  a  distance,  physically 
and  morally,  from  their  scene.  Indeed,  some  of  the 
notices  of  the  original  which  have  appeared  in  our 
reviews,  have  recommended  that  in  an  English 
translation  this  account  should  be  greatly  abridged. 
After  careful  consideration,  however,  it  seemed  to 
me  most  advisable  to  give  the  work  entire;  for 
though  some  of   the  subordinate  questions  it  treats 


PREFACE.  vii 

of  may  not  directly  concern  ourselves,  it  can 
scarcely  be  without  interest  to  us  to  study  even 
the  special  aspects  assumed  by  ecclesiastical  affairs 
in  a  nation  more  closely  related  to  us  than  any 
other  in  the  Eastern  hemisphere  of  our  globe,  by 
affinities  of  race,  religion,  and  mental  culture.  The 
partial  alienation  that  has  of  late  sprung  up  between 
us  ought  to  be  solely  attributed  to  its  true  cause 
in  the  recent  or  former  wrong-doings  of  a  few 
individual  politicians  on  both  sides  of  the  water, 
and  not  to  be  suffered  to  deaden  the  natural 
sympathies  of  the  two  peoples  ;  nor  should  the 
hatred  to  England  exhibited  by  a  mere  clique  make 
us  forget,  as  it  has  sometimes  almost  seemed  to 
do,  the  thousand  ties  of  common  interests  and 
affections  that  bind  us  to  our  Prussian  brothers. 
The  reception  that  they  have  given  to  this  work  of 
Chevalier  Bunsen's,  with  its  open  declaration  of  his 
political  views  and  sympathies,  is  but  one  proof  among 
many  that  they  are  animated  by  an  utterly  different 
temper  toward  tts  from  that  displayed  by  some  of 
their  leading  men  for  the  time  being.  May  the  book 
prove  one   contribution  toward   our   reunion. 

It  is  perhaps  necessary  to  explain,  that  in  the 
following  pages,  a  few  passages  have  been  somewhat 
modified  or  curtailed  in  deference  to  the  requirements 
of  style ;  but  I  believe  that  in  no  case  has  the  general 


viii  PREFACE. 

sense  of  a  passage  been  affected  by  these  alterations^ 
for  which  I  have  received  the  author's  sanction.  They 
ai*e  but  few,  and  in  all  instances  where  a  philosophical 
idea  was  concerned,  it  has  been  my  endeavor  to 
adhere  as  closely  as  possible  to  the  exact  meanmg 
of  the  original. 

S.  W. 
Manchester,  February  29tb,  1856. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 


LETTER    I. 

PAQB 

Signs  op  the  Times. — ^The  Spirit  of  Association  and  the  Hie- 
rarchy— Freedom  of  Conscience  and  Persecution  .        .        .13 


LETTER    II. 

The  Eve  of  the  Festival  of  St.  "Winfred— Bishop  Ketteler's  Pas- 
toral— The  German  Nation  and  the  Anglo-Saxons.        .        .    49 


LETTER    III. 
The  Jubilee  Festival — ^Boniface,  his  forerunners  and  successors  .    61 

LETTER    IV. 

The  Sermon  on  the  Tiara  by  the  Bishop  of  Strasbourg,  and  the 
Manifesto  of  the  Assembly  of  German  Bishops  at  Wurzburg, 
m  the  Autumn  of  1848 87 

LETTER   V. 

The  History  of  the  Dispute  between  the  Church  and  Govern- 
ment in  Baden,  from  its  commencement  in  1853  up  to  the 

present  time 110 

1* 


TABLE   OP   CONTENTS, 


LETTER    VI. 

PA6B 


The  Conflict  between  the  Civil  Legislation  and  the  Canon  Law 
of  Rome,  in  its  bearing  upon  Marriage,  Education,  and 
Property 149 


LETTER    VII. 

The  Conflict  of  the  Priesthood  with  Conscience ;  and  the  Recent 
Persecutions 162 


LETTER    VIII. 

Historical  Retrospect  and  Solution  of  our  Difficulties  on  the  basis 
of  a  truly  Christian  Polity 191 


LETTER    IX. 

Observations  on  Stahl's  Doctrine  of  Tolerance,  as  regarded  from 
an  Historical  and  Juridical  Point  of  View      ....  243 


LETTER    X. 

Objections  to  Stahl's  Doctrine  of  the  Church  and  the  Union,  in 
its  bearing  on  Law,  on  Religious  Liberty,  and  on  Free  In- 
quiry     2Y4 

History  of  the  Union 308 

A  Summary  of  our  Inquiries  with  respect  to  the  state  of 
Protestant  Christianity  in  Prussia  and  Germany  gener- 
aUy 354 


THE    CONCLUSIOlsr. 
The  Significance  of  the  Two  Signs  of  our  Times         .        .        .865 


TABLE   OP   CONTENTS.  XI 

APPENDIX   TO    LETTER    V. 

PAGK 

A.  . 

An  Historical  and  Juridical  Account  of  the  Contest  in  Baden, 
up  to  June  1854 382 

B. 

A  Project  of  Law  proposed  by  Professor  "Warnkonig,  concerning 
the  external  affairs  of  the  Church  in  the  Province  of  the  Upper 
Rhine 401 

APPENDIX    TO    LETTER    VII. 

Documents  relating  to  the  Recent  Persecutions. 

A. 

The  Persecution  of  Domenico  Cecehetti  in  Tuscany    .        .        .  404 

B. 
The  Persecution  of  Johannes  Evangelista  Borczynski  in  Prague.  409 

C. 
The  most  recent  Legislation  of  Austria  on  Ecclesiastical  Affairs .  417 

D. 
Report  of  the  Recent  Persecution  of  a  Protestant  Father  in 
France 418 

APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  VIII. 

The  Article  of  the  Prussian  Constitution  of  1850,  touching  Eccle- 
siastical Affairs 421 

APPENDIX    TO    LETTER    IX. 

Extract  from  the  Transactions  of  the  Evangelical  Kirchentag, 
held  in  Berlin,  in  September,  185S         .         .         .         .         .  423 


Xll  TABLE   OP  CONTENTS 


APPENDIX    TO    LETTER   X. 

PAGE 
A. 

Royal  Cabinet  Order  of  27th  September,  1817    .        .        .        .427 

B. 
Royal  Cabinet  Order  of  July,  1834    .        .        .        ,        .        .429 

C. 
Cabinet  Order  ofthe  6th  of  March,  1852    .        .        .        .         .  430 

D. 
Cabinet  Order  ofthe  12th  of  July,  1853 432 

E. 

Royal  Cabinet  Letter  to  the  Pastors  of  the  "Wittenberg  Confer- 
ence, October  11th,  1853 434 

F. 

Evangelical  Consensus,  as  agreed  upon  by  the  General  Synod  of 
Prussia  of  1846 436 


SIGNS    OF  TEE   TIMES. 


LETTER    I. 


SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES — ^THE  SPIRIT  OP  ASSOCIATION 
AND  THE  HIERARCHY — FREEDOM  OF  CONSCIENCE 
AND  PERSECUTION. 

Chaklottenberg,  near  Heedelber&, 
1st  June,  1855. 

My  Dear  and  Honored  Friend, 

What  mean  the  Signs  of  the  Times  ?  Is  it  ebb 
or  flood  wtth  us?  Are  we  in  Germany  and  Europe 
going  forward  or  backward  ?  Which  will  triumph : 
Church  or  State,  priesthood  or  people  ? 

So  have  thousands  and  millions  asked  since  the  end 
of  the  last  and  the  beginning  of  the  present  century ; 
but  never  more  universally  and  more  anxiously  than 
since  1848 — except,  since  1851.  Every  one  feels  that 
the  most  opposite  extremes — indeed,  apparently,  at 
least,  the  most  fundamental  principles  of  truth — are 
standing  face  to  face,  in  an  attitude  of  absolute  defiance ; 
that  decisive  conflicts  are  preparing ;  that  a  new  order  of 
things  is  shaping  itself  But  opinions  are  everywhere 
divided  as  to  what  is  destined  to  remain  at  the  close,  or 
whether  perchance  that  close  may  prove  to  be  the  end, 


14  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

if  not  of  the  "world,  yet  of  the  existing  civilization  and 
social  arrangements  of  Europe.  The  fears  of  one  party 
are  the  hopes  of  the  other ;  selfishness  and  passion  not 
only  step  boldly  into  the  foreground,  but  bear  unblush- 
ingly  on  their  brow  the  sign  of  the  highest  and  holiest. 
The  incredible  in  one  form  or  other  appears  to  all  parties 
and  peoples  credible,  nay,  the  impossible,  probable ;  few 
or  none  of  the  existing  powers  or  faiths  are  held  to  be 
secure. 

Now  wherever  the  free  expression  of  thought  is  per- 
mitted, and  the  popular  sentiment  finds  its  organs,  these 
contradictory  principles,  these  doubts,  this  sense  of  anx- 
iety, are  clearly  visible.  But  where  this  freedom  of 
utterance  does  not  exist,  or  popular  feeling  has  not  as 
yet  colored  the  literature,  there  reigns  a  certain  torpor, 
which  to  many  seems  merely  a  symptom  of  exhaustion 
and  acceptance  of  the  faits  accomplis,  but  to  others  the 
most  threatening  sign  of  the  times ;  inasmuch  as  none 
can  tell  how  far  it  is  a  token  of  life  or  death,  of  indifier- 
ence  or  ^espair,  of  exhaustion  or  of  energetic  and  only 
temporarily  repressed  indignation.  That  new  delusions 
have  been  detected,  has  not  made  old  lies  more  credible. 
Confidence  is  demanded,  but  is  not  given :  the  duty  of 
faith  is  preached,  but  its  preachers  find  no  faith,  even 
when  they  and  their  sermon  deserve  it.  Add  to  this, 
that  the  mistrustful  are  by  no  means  all  unbelievers, 
still  more  rarely  thoughtless  persons ;  and  that  though 
the  exclusives  may  be  here  and  there  the  most  influential, 
they  are  nowhere  the  majority  of  the  people,  nor  yet  the 
leaders  of  learning  and  science.  Those  despairing  views 
of  the  world  prevailing  in  Southern  Europe,  which  have 
found  voice  in  the  immortal  lyrics  and  meditations  of  the 
noble  Leopardi,  seem  to  be  invading  Germany ;  may  the 
causes  perchance  be  the  same  ? 


UNIVERSAL  ANXIETY.  15 

So  far,  however,  we  find  a  firm  belief  in  the  moral 
order  of  the  universe,  wherever  free  speech  and  free 
thought  are  not  jet  stifled.  But  it  is  equally  certain 
that  we  find  even  there,  though  the  feeling  may  be  less 
predominant,  a  vague  sense  of  uneasiness,  and  a  gloomy 
pondering  over  the  signs  of  the  times  and  the  interpreta- 
tion of  prophecy,  which  paralyzes  all  energy  for  united 
action  just  among  the  best  people.  For  we  can  not 
recognize  as  interpretations  of  those  signs,  the  opinions 
of  such  as  believe  in  no  moral  order  of  the  world  at  all, 
nor  yet  of  such  as  are  only  capable  of  regarding  it  as  it 
concerns  themselves  personally,  or  the  class  to  which 
they  belong.  Those  who  deny  any  sort  of  moral  govern- 
ment, see  in  the  phenomena  only  chance — only  the  con- 
sequences fortuitously  produced  by  particular  persons  or 
events.  The  latter,  however,  who  judge  all  events  and 
actions  by  the  standard  of  their  own  advantage  or  their 
own  selfish  aspirations,  do  not  really  believe  in  the 
superhuman,  truly  moral,  and  divinely  true  element 
that  lies  behind  all  phenomena.  The  one  class  are  the 
theoretical,  the  other,  the  practical  deniers  of  God. 

Such  a  state  of  things  is  certainly  very  similar  to  that 
in  which  the  Roman  Caesars  ascended  the  throne  of  the 
world's  empire.  But  there  is  now  no  universal  empire ; 
and  yet  to  have  overlooked  this  circumstance  is  but  the 
most  pardonable  error  and  the  smallest  sin  of  the  shallow 
and  sanctimonious  writer  Romieux,  who  three  years  ago 
delighted  so  many  of  "  the  pious"  with  his  "  Age  of  the 
Caesars,"  by  the  background  of  his  picture — the  hie- 
rarchy ! 

There  is  no  doubt  but  these  two  sorts  of  unbelievers, 
together  with  the  unenlightened  students  of  prophecy 
above  mentioned,  constitute  in  many  countries,  at  this 
moment,  the  great  majority,  although  in  various  propor- 


16  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

tions.  With  regard  to  our  own  country,  we  may  still 
thankfully  acknowledge  that  despairing  views  of  the 
world  have  neither  got  a  hold  on  the  mass  of  the  people, 
nor  yet  on  our  learned  men,  or  only  in  exceptional  cases 
through  personal  discontent.  The  German  nation  has  a 
firmer  faith  in  the  moral  order  of  the  universe  than  any 
other  that  I  know  of.  Our  notable  men  of  learning' and 
of  faith  still  to  this  day  see  in  the  facts  of  human  con- 
sciousness, as  in  those  of  the  history  of  our  race,  the 
confirmation  of  that  instinctive  faith  of  man  in  the  moral 
government  of  God ;  and  find  in  the  teachings  of  the 
Gospel,  the  same  doctrine  that  is  taught  by  all  earnest 
and  thoughtful  contemplation  of  the  universe. 

Nevertheless,  the  prevailing  mood  of  men's  minds 
throughout  Europe  is  everywhere,  and  not  only  on  the 
Continent,  decidedly  that  of  uneasiness.  Hence  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  many  seek  to  explain  this 
feeling  by  their  view  of  recent  events  or  those  of  a  more 
distant  past ;  and  that  still  more  avail  themselves  of  it 
to  further  the  spread  of  the  views  to  which  they  have 
specially  devoted  their  efibrts.  Thus  we  encounter 
almost  daily  some  new  phraseology  which  promises  to 
explain  the  state  of  the  world  and  men's  minds  by  means 
of  some  new  or  old  formula,  dishonest  men  who  puff 
these  nostrums,  simpletons  who  believe  them,  and  a  still 
greater  number  of  triflers  who  pretend  to  believe  them. 
The  Mormonites  among  the  Sects,  and  the  Rohmers 
among  the  Cagliostros,  are  not  altogether  isolated  pEe- 
nomena.  Hence,  too,  it  is  no  wonder  that  we  see  the 
delusions  and  the  sophistry  which  prevailed  in  the  period 
of  the  Restoration  appearing  again  in  fuller  force  and 
with  bolder  face. 

How  childlike  appear  the  delusions  of  De  Bonald  and 
Le  Maistre,  of  Gorres  and  Friedrich  Schlegel,  compared 


PREVALENT  DELUSIONS.  17 

to  those  of  the  writers  in  the  Univers  and  the  Tablet, 
and  many  pastoral  letters !  How  ingenuous  and  simply 
pedantic  appears  even  the  sophistry  of  Adam  Mtiller  and 
of  Haller,  compared  to  the  facility  with  which  their 
successors  and  spiritual  comrades  in  the  Kreuz  Zeitung, 
or  the  historico-political  periodicals,  promulgate  false- 
hood as  fact,  a  paradox  as  a  truth.  And  how  powerfully 
are  they  seconded  by  the  band  of  their  juridical  abettors, 
who  turn  necessity  into  a  virtue,  and  force  into  right ; 
and  by  the  unholy  zeal  of  notable  pulpit  orators,  who 
paint  despotism  as  law  and  order,  servitude  as  freedom, 
but,  above  all,  scoff  at  the  divine  spark  of  reason  within 
us  as  godless,  and  crush  down  the  conscience  of  the 
individual  as  rebellion !  Are  not  these  things  signs  of 
the  latter  days? 

And  what,  with  all  their  apparent  success,  do  they 
really  bring  to  pass  ?  That  the  great  mass  of  society  in 
Germany  close  their  minds  all  the  more  against  any 
kind  of  mystery  as  mystification,  and  reject  every  means 
of  exciting  the  religious  feeling,  because  they  regard 
them  all  but  as  so  many  attempts  at  galvanization  on  the 
part  of  the  police.  Once  for  all,  the  people  stay  away 
from  church  out  of  sheer  aversion  to  a  police-church. 
And  can  the  exclusives  believe  that  the  people  will  flock 
into  their  church,  when  they  openly  confess  that  the 
great  mass  of  the  town  population  and  the  cultivated 
classes  must  be  excluded  from  it,  or  at  least  given  up  as 
unbelievers  ?  That  this  feeling  is  rankling  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people  is  one  cause,  too,  of  the  morbid  political 
excitement,  or  torpor,  reigning  in  so  many  quarters.  To 
most  politicians,  as  to  the  masses,  for  this  year  past,  all 
has  been  trembling  in  the  balance  with  Sebastopol. 
That  city  is,  to  the  one  side,  the  fateful  Troy,  that  must 
be  taken  at  all  price ;  to  the  other  the  fateful  Palladium, 


18  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

on  whose  rescue  hangs  the  future  of  the  world  and  the 
preservation  of  the  conservative  element  in  our  father- 
land. Both  these  politicians  and  the  masses  forget, 
meanwhile,  the  realities  around  them,  and  overlook,  or 
positively  despise,  the  opportunity  now  afforded  for  use- 
ful, calm,  unceasing,  durable,  if  not  brilliant  and  stirring 
action  and  reform.  But  "the  Oriental  question  will 
decide  our  future;  the  elections  will  turn  upon  that." 
We  look  on  at  the  strife;  our  old  men  sulk,  and  our 
young  men — smoke  cigars !  To  lay  the  hands  in  the 
lap  counts  for  wisdom,  and  is  perhaps  abnegation.  The 
great  body  of  the  nation  is  silent.  But  never  could  the 
maxim  of  the  jurists,  "  Silence  gives  consent,"  be  less 
correctly  applied  to  the  state  of  men's  minds. 

But  we,  too,  my  dearest  friend,  have  always  held  with 
those  who  believe  firmly  in  a  moral  order  of  the  universe, 
and  think  that  we  are  speaking  as  becomes  Christians 
when  we  express  our  conviction,  that  both  that  order  and 
the  mental  freedom  taught  by  the  Gospel  have  been  ac- 
knowledged by  the  wise  men  of  all  ages  and  nations,  and 
are  attested  by  the  world's  history  no  less  than  by  con- 
science. 

You,  my  honored  friend,  our  national  seer  of  ninety, 
have  from  the  beginning  of  this  century  held  up  before 
us  of  the  past  generation,  as  well  as  those  of  the  present 
— the  third  that  has  listened  to  your  sacred  songs  of 
faith  and  freedom,  of  patriotism  and  humanity — the 
torch  of  God's  Word  and  human  experience  on  the  path 
of  Christian  and  truly  German  faith  in  Providence.  The 
great  men  under  whose  guidance  Brandis,  and  I,  and 
many  others,  some  of  whom  have  now  departed,  while 
others  are  still  left,  entered  on  active  life  and  the 
world  of  realities — I  mean  Niebuhr  and  Schleiermacher, 
especially — were  snatched  away  from  us  at  the  begin- 


PAST  EXPERIENCE.  19 

ning  of  the  stormy  period.  But  we  ourselves  have 
already  left  behind  us  a  forty  years'  pilgrimage  through 
a  checkered  and  observant  life,  and  we  have  passed  these 
years  of  sojourn,  not  at  home  among  books  and  scholars, 
but  among  various  nations,  and  in  divers  spheres  of 
activity.  And  this  we  can  say  truly  of  ourselves  and 
our  fellows  iu  age  and  spirit,  that  we  have  striven  not  to 
live  unworthily  of  the  teaching  and  the  solemn  baptism 
of  1813 ;  have  never  and  nowhere  denied  our  German 
sentiments,  or  despaired  of  the  future  of  our  nation  or 
of  humanity.  Our  first  love  is  not  quenched ;  God  be 
thanked !  not  one  of  us  has  sufiered  shipwreck  in  this 
faith.  All  the  more  do  we  unitedly  rejoice  in  your 
wondrous  youthful  freshness  and  courage;  but  we  esteem 
you  yet  more  happy  in  the  absence  of  all  bitterness  in 
your  conversation  or  writing,  notwithstanding  all  you 
have  suffered  from  injustice  and  disappointed  hopes.  In 
possessing  such  a  temper  of  mind  you  have  borne  off  the 
high  prize,  the  truly  divine  jewel  of  a  Christian  spirit 
and  genuine  philosophy  from  the  warfare  of  life.  You 
might  have  responded  to  the  arrogance  of  the  successful 
party  of  the  last  six  years,  as  you  answered  in  your 
"  Nothgedrungenen  Berichte,"*  the  insolent  and  shame- 
less accuser  of  1846,  in  the  words  of  Goethe's  Prome- 
theus : 

"  Musst  mir  meine  Erde 
Doch  lassen  stehen, 
Und  meine  Hiitte  die  du  nicht  gebaut, 

*  "  Nothgedrungenen  Berichte  ;" — "  Statement  extorted  by 
Necessity,"  is  the  title  of  a  book  published  by  Arndt,  in  1846 — 
an  account  of  the  persecutions  he  had  sufferred  on  the  plea  of  so- 
called  "demagogical  intrigues."  It  was  " extorted"  because  some 
evil-disposed  person  had,  in  1846,  again  revived  insinuations 
against  him,  six  years  after  the  king  had  reinstated  Amdt  in  his 
professorship. — Tr. 


20  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Und  meinen  Herd, 
TJm  dessen  Glut 

Du  mich  beneidest 

Wahntest  du  etwa, 
Ich  sollte  das  Leben  hassen, 
In  Wiisten  fliehen, 
Weil  nicht  alle     - 
Bliitentraume  reiften  ?"* 

But  not  alone  have  you  tamed  the  Titan-nature  in 
your  breast,  but  the  love  of  God  and  our  brethren  has,  at 
all  times,  found  an  echo  there.  In  the  sultry  atmosphere 
of  1846, f  which  weighed  heavily  on  us  all,  you  say : 

*  These  verses  may  be  rather  roughly  translated  as  follows : 

"  Yet  must  thou  leave  me 
My  earth  still  standing, 

And  this  my  dwelling  which  thou  didst  not  build, 
And  my  bright  hearth 
Whose  ruddy  glow 

Thou  enviest  me 

Deemedst  thou  ever 

That  I  should  hate  my  life 

And  flee  to  deserts, 

Because  not  every 

Dream-blossom  of  youth  bore  fruit  ?" 

t  The  universal  feeling  of  discontent,  of  the  instability  of 
political  powers  in  Germany,  had  grown  to  such  an  extent  in 
1845,  that  the  year  may  well  be  compared  to  the  calm  preceding 
a  storm.  Few  things  happened  to  denote  it  to  the  vulgar  eye. 
Yet  it  could  be  discovered  in  the  character  of  several  bread-riots; 
in  the  habit  which  then  gained  ground,  even  among  men  in  office, 
of  ridiculing  and  regretting  every  existing  institution;  in  the  pro- 
gress of  power  made  by  the  provincial  Diets  in  Prussia ;  in  the 
threatening  language  held  in  all  the  "constitutional"  States  of 
Germany;  in  the  resuscitation  of  national  feehngs  which  had 
lain  dormant  since  1815.  Hence  the  immense  excitement  which 
accompanied  every  liberal  movement  in  Italy  soon  after,  and  the 
strong  political  agitation  produced  by  the  King  of  Prussia's  con- 
voking the  first  United  Diet  in  February,  1847. — TV. 


THE  TRUSTWORTHY  SEER.  21 

"  Komm  Gott,  komm  Gott  vom  Himmel, 

TJnd  sieh  in  Gnaden  drein : 
Durchleuchte  das  Gewimmel 

Der  Nacht  mit  Sonnenschein ; 
Entwiire  die  Yerwirrung, 

Die  ohne  Licht  und  Eath, 
Stets  tiefer  in  Yerirrung, 

Yerfahren  hat  den  Pfad."* 

And  when,  in  the  year  1851,  many  generous-hearted 
and  brave  Angles  and  Hessians  were  forced  to  seek  a 
new  home,  and  ^honorable  grave,  beyond  the  ocean, 
though  your  deep  grief  broke  out  in  the  song — 

"  0  mein  Deutschland,  will  dein  Jammer?" 

— ^yet  how  does  it  conclude  ? 

"  Still !  es  rufet,  du  sollst  beten, 

Christ,  sollst  lieben,  glauben,  hofien, 
Sperrt  sich  eng  die  deutsche  Welt  audi 

Ewig  stelit  der  Himmel  offen  I 
Drum  lass  Alles  durch  einander 

Fallen,  stiirzen,  krachen,  brechen: 
Droben,  glaubet,  waltet  Einer, 

Der  wird  letztes  Urtheil  sprechen."t 


*  "  Come,  God,  from  Heaven,  oh,  come ! 

In  grace  look  down  on  us, 
And  let  Thy  sunshine  pierce  the  gloom 

Where  we  are  'wildered  thus; 
Guide  us  from  out  the  maze, 

Where,  reft  of  wisdom,  light, 
Our  path  through  wilds  of  error  strays 

Still  further  from  the  right." 

t  "Hush!  it  cries,  and  pray,  0  Christian, 
Thou  must  hope,  believe,  and  love ; 
Shut's  the  German  world  against  thee, 
Open  still  stands  Heaven  above ! 


22  ,  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Nor  have  you,  since  then,  lost  your  trustful,  joyful 
confidence.  Where  could  this  feeling  be  more  freshly 
or  youthfully  expressed  than  in  your  last  song,  written 
for  the  blessing  of  the  colors,  last  November,  which  is 
now  lying  before  me,  in  your  own  beloved  handwriting  ? 
You,  who  have  seen  Frederic  the  Great  and  his  heroes, 
sang  in  your  eighty-fifth  year,  as  you  were  nailing  to 
its  staff  the  ensign  of  the  "Union  of  Veterans"  of  Bonn — 

"  Das  meint  nicht  Treue  festzunageln, 

Die  muss  durch  Gott  gefestet  sein, 
Dass,  wenn  die  Schlachtenwetter  hageln, 

Und  Blei  und  Eisen  niederspein, 
Die  Fahne  fliege  als  ein  Zeichen, 

Der  Ehre  Pfand,  der  Treue  Pfand, 

Dass  in  dem  Kampf  kein  Mann  will  weichen, 

Fiir  Konig,  Gott,  und  Vaterland. 
*  *  *  H«  *  * 

Und  nun  das  hochste  Hoch  der  Alten, 

Zum  Himmel  steige  das  Gebet ! 
Wir  wollen  feste  Treue  halten, 

"Wo  diese  Fahne  vor  uns  weht  I 
Und  muss  sie  einst  im  Felde  fliegen 

Den  stolzen  Preuszenadlerflug, 
So  bleibe :  Fallen  oder  Siegen 

Der  Yeteranen  Ehrenspruch.* 

Then  let  all  things  in  confusion, 

Fall  and  sink,  and  crack  and  break : 

One,  beUeve  it,  rules  still  o'er  us, 
Who  the  final  word  shall  speak  1" 

*  "  'Tis  not  our  truth  that  here  we  nail, 

That  must  be  done  by  God  on  high. 
That  when  the  battle's  deadly  hail 
And  iron  storms  around  us  fly, 
Our  flag  may  tell  to  all  the  field 
.  The  truth  and  honor  of  our  band, 
That  in  the  fight  we  ne'er  will  yield, 
For  King,  and  God,  and  Fatherland. 

*****  >|C 


LAWS  OF  GROWTH  AND  DECAY.  23 

Concerning  the  politics  of  the  day,  and  the  attitude 
of  our  country  toward  the  great  struggle  between  the 
East  and  West,  we  have  exchanged  few  words.  Con- 
scious of  a  perfect  understanding  with  each  other  in 
regard  to  the  main  point,  each  has  allowed  the  other  to 
shape  out  his  own  course.  It  was,  therefore,  very  nat- 
ural that  my  heart  should  be  attracted  toward  you,  of 
all  others,  when,  at  the  close  of  the  first  year  after  my 
return  to  my  native  land,  I  looked  around  me,  consider- 
ing whether  the  fitting  season  had  arrived  to  discuss  the 
portents  of  the  age  with  friends  and  fellow-thinkers  in 
the  presence  of  the  public.  For  you  are  our  oldest  and 
most  trustworthy  seer,  and  the  signs  of  the  times,  and 
their  true  and  false  interpreters,  are  a  never-failing 
subject  of  reflection  and  discourse  with  you.  Of  all  still 
left  to  us  of  the  ^^  fiegoneg  avdpojnoc^^  of  this  age,  none 
has  a  more  living  conviction— to  none  is  it  a  more  self- 
evident  fact — ^that  the  belief  in  an  Eternal  Love  as  the 
foundation  of  the  universe,  is  the  source  of  all  wisdom  as 
of  all  true  piety  and  godliness.  With  both  of  us,  also, 
it  is  a  fixed  conviction  that  the  highest  conflicting  ques- 
tions of  the  day,  and,  in  particular,  the  question  whether 
the  present  condition  of  afiairs  is  tending  toward  rejuven- 
escence, or  decay  and  dissolution,  can  not  receive  any 
decision  except  in  accordance  with  those  eternal  laws  by 
which  the  universe  is  ruled.  And  what  these  laws  are 
can  not  be  a  matter  of  dispute  among  those  who,  in  the 

"  And  now  your  last  and  loudest  shout, 

And  Let  your  prayer  to  Heaven  arise  I 
Our  truth  shall  ne'er  be  stained  with  doubt 

Where'er  this  banner  o'er  us  flies ! 
And  when  it  tries  in  deed  once  more 

The  Prussian  eagle's  glorious  flight, 
Our  veteran's  motto,  as  of  yore, 

Is  '  death  or  victory'  in  the  fight  I" — TV. 


24  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

light  of  this  faith,  have  studied  the  course  of  human 
events  with  Moses  and  the  prophets,  with  Solon  and 
Herodotus. 

We  may,  perhaps,  sum  up  these  laws  most  simply  in 
the  following  manner.  Every  human  institution  perishes 
in  one  of  two  ways.  In  the  first  place,  when  the  special 
principle  of  life  embodied  in  it  dies  out  because  it  has 
run  its  course,  and  some  higher  development  is  demanded 
by  the  order  of  God's  providence ;  but  it  perishes  too 
when  its  representatives  transgress  the  limits  appointed 
to  man,  which  circumstance,  indeed,  often  coincides  with 
that  former  inward  decay.  Quern  Deus  vult  perdere^ 
prius  dementat,  says  a  wise  old  proverb ;  and  the 
homely  German  saying,  Pride  comes  before  a  fall, 
utters  the  mystery  of  ancient  tragedy. 

For  every  thing  human  is  subject  to  conditions.  Nay, 
divine  truth  itself,  when  applied  to  definitive  human 
relations,  is  only  true  under  conditions,  and  within  the 
limits  they  draw  around  it ;  but  man,  by  reason  of  his 
egotism,  is  ever  striving  to  get  free  of  all  conditions. 

The  first  sort  of  death  may  be  compared  to  the  natural 
death  of  an  individual;  the  second,  to  suicide,  and,  in 
general,  to  madness.  It  is  this  second,  self-incurred 
doom  which  is  the  source  of  the  tragic  element  in  history, 
and  which  constitutes  the  magic  power  of  the  poetic  crea- 
tions of  Eschylus  and  Sophocles,  of  Shakspeare  and 
Goethe.  Even  the  greatest  and  most  glorious  human 
energy  and  might  are  forfeit  to  fate  as  conditioned,  and 
go  to  destruction,  when  they  try  to  become  absolute,  and 
as  such  think  and  act.  Thus  the  instinctive  striving 
after  unconditional  expansion  has  its  source  not  in  the 
God-appointed  destiny  of  humanity  in  itself,  but  in  the 
blindness  of  the  selfish  element  in  our  nature,  which 
desires  to  make  the  Me  into  the  center  of  all  things. 


THE  ORACLE  OF  HISTORY.  25 

The  moral  order  of  the  world,  on  the  contrary,  demands 
of  each  man  and  of  each  human  institution,  that  this 
Self-Seeking  thould  he  conquered,  and  freely  subordin- 
ate itself  to  the  Divine  Whole.  Hence  arises  a  conflict 
which  touches  the  moving  springs  of  the  world's  history. 
For,  inasmuch  as  the  natural  Self  makes  its  own  specific 
existence  a  center,  it  foolishly  attempts  to  make  that 
into  an  ultimate  end,  which  has  its  true  existence  only 
in  its  conformity  with  the  collective  arrangements  of  the 
universe.  Thus,  every  power  that  makes  itself  its  own 
end  necessarily  works,  so  far  as  in  it  lies,  for  its  con- 
trary ;  anarchy  for  despotism — unhridled  license  for 
servitude ;  while  in  so  far  as  the  moral  energy  of  men 
and  nations  overcomes  evil  in  its  double  aspect,  is  the 
divine  order  of  the  world,  and  God  himself  made  known. 

This  principle  is  no  matter  "of  dispute  in  our  nation,  or 
in  Christendom  at  large ;  nay,  all  men  who  are  in  their 
senses  assume  it,  although  they  express  it  variously,  and 
often  confuse  and  deceive  themselves  with  regard  to  it. 
Even  in  its  application  to  persons  and  circumstances  that 
have  long  since  passed  away,  the  judgment  of  thoughtful 
and  well-informed  men  is  seldom  fundamentally  at  vari- 
ance. But  the  dispute  is  concerning  its  application  to 
ourselves,  and  to  the  circumstances  with  which  we  stand 
in  immediate  contact.  Here  our  sense  of  right  is  sadly 
apt  to  be  confused  by  the  tendency  to  self-seeking  inher- 
ent in  our  very  existence;  whether  the  egotism  that 
relates  to  our  own  personal  existence,  which  is  strong, 
or  the  egotism  of  party  or  nation,  which  is  often  still 
stronger  and  more  reckless. 

And  yet  the  possibility  of  any  mutual  understanding 
between  opposing  parties,  or  any  adjustment  of  the  con- 
flicts of  the  present,  lies  in  the  mutual  recognition  of  the 
claims  of  others,  and  the  voluntary  limitation  of  our  own, 

2 


26  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Now,  it  has  always  appeared  to  me  the  surest  method  of 
arriving  at  such  an  understanding  and  reconciliation,  to 
start  with  a  conscious  and  practical  acknowledgment  of 
the  principle  we  have  laid  down,  and  then  to  go  on  to 
exhibit  it  as  mirrored  in  something  objective.  This, 
however,  we  can  effect  neither  by  a  course  of  abstract 
demonstration,  nor  yet  by  adducing  single  historical 
examples ;  but  only  by  contemplating  the  wide  page  of 
the  world's  history  spread  before  us,  whose  center  is  the 
Bible,  and,  above  all,  the  Gospel.  He  who,  in  its  light, 
can  rise  to  a  comprehensive  survey  of  universal  history, 
attains,  in  proportion  to  his  mental  requirements,  a 
height  from  which  he  can  look  down  in  freedom  on  the 
contests  and  struggles  of  the  actual  world.  This  is  the 
only  sort  of  prophecy  to  which  our  age  has  a  clear  voca- 
tion. 

Does  it  not  necessarily  follow  hence,  my  dear  friend, 
that  we  can  succeed  in  reading  the  signs  of  the  times  in 
an  actual  given  case,  only  by  adopting  this  method,  but 
then  may  perhaps  also  hope  to  persuade  others  to  follow 
in  the  same  path,  in  order  to  reach  the  same  insight  into 
the  true  laws  and  actual  condition  of  our  world. 

We  must  address  ourselves  to  the  present,  and  the 
pressing  questions  of  our  own  day.  We  must  endeavor 
to  penetrate  into  the  heart  of  reality.  We  must  fix  a 
steady  gaze  upon  those  signs  of  the  times  in  our  own 
heavens  which  now  challenge  us  to  read  them.  And  we 
must  look  at  them  from  our  own  horizon,  that  is  to  say, 
as  referring  them  always  to  the  true,  namely,  the  divine, 
center  of  all  things.  And  I  believe  that  I  may  especially 
hope  for  your  concurrence,  when  I  propose  to  you  to 
abstain  for  this  time  from  all  mere  politics  of  the  day, 
and  all  confessional  theology.  Doubtless  every  signifi- 
cant portent  of  the  times  must  have  a  bearing  on  our 


/ 


ABSTINENCE  FEOM  CONTROVERSY.  27 

political  circumstances,  both  those  of  our  German  father- 
land and  those  of  Europe  at  large,  which  are  so  closely 
interwoven  with  each  other.  Certainly,  too,  they  can 
not  be  without  effect  on  the  theological  systems  in  accord- 
ance with  which  Christendom  has  desired,  or  been  forced, 
to  mold  or  bind  her  communities  for  the  last  fifteen 
hundred  years.  But  just  at  the  present  moment,  and 
with  the  phenomena  which  we  are  discussing — some  of 
which,  indeed,  we  shall  perhaps  have  been  the  first  to 
exhibit  in  their  full  proportions — there  is  clearly  an 
imminent  risk  of  dropping  from  the  serene  sky  of  con- 
templation into  the  dark  clouds  of  political  and  religious 
passions,  and  instead  of  attaining  to  light  and  peace, 
rather  augmenting  perplexity  and  strife.  Therefore  no 
politics  and  no  theology  in  these  pages,  and  still  less 
learned  controversies  or  acerbities  !  Cf  course  we  must 
call  things  by  their  true  names,  and  that  can  not 
please  every  body.  Further,  truth  requires  that  we 
should  not  conceal  righteous  indignation,  but  only  keep 
it  within  bounds,  by  remembering  that  the  triumph  of 
falsehood  and  baseness  can  be  but  short,  and  that  pride 
comes  before  a  fall.  And  least  of  all,  I  think,  ought  it 
to  be  difficult  to  us  to  hold  bitterness  and  passion  afar 
from  our  meditations  where  we  find  the  like  in  our  op- 
ponents. We  preach  toleration ;  what  a  contradiction  if 
we  should  be  intolerant !  No,  we  will  be  tolerant  toward 
the  intolerant,  and  intolerant  only  toward  intolerance. 
Motives  of  personal  ill-will  have,  thank  God,  always 
lain  far  enough  fi-om  either  of  us.  Indeed  we  are  not 
concerned  with  the  ever-changing  actors  in  the  scene, 
nor  yet  with  the  religious  and  political  convictions  or 
systems  which  now  divide  the  world.  We  recognize 
them  all  as  Christian,  and  as  having  a  right  to  be  there, 
in  so  far  as  they  obtain  credence.     Nay,  on  the  domain 


■y>^  OF  THE     ^^^ 


^g  SiaNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

of  theology,  we  are  ready  to  concede  to  the  theologians 
who  wish  it,  that  according  to  their  system,  they  are  in 
the  right:  though,  however,  we  know  no  theological 
system  among  Christians,  which  in  itself  would  neces- 
sarily lead  to  intolerance  and  persecution  so  long  as  it 
remained  within  its  own  ground. 

Of  the  two  eminent  men  against  whose  doctrine  I 
shall  have  to  express  myself  most  strongly,  one  is  en- 
tirely unknown  to  me  personally,  and  I  have  a  sincere 
respect  for  his  private  character,  as,  it  is  needless  to  say, 
I  have  for  his  office.  But  with  the  other  I  have  been 
for  many  years  on  terms  of  friendship,  and  I  have  never 
doubted  of  the  honesty  of  his  religious  zeal,  even  when 
it  appeared  with  a  new  ingredient  which  was  to  me  un- 
intelligible. And  if  I  should  sometimes  exchange  the 
straightforward  German  mode  of  speech  toward  them 
with  that  which  in  Socrates  is  called  the  ironical  tone, 
this  is  but  the  softened  expression  of  a  deep-seated  indig- 
nation in  behalf  of  our  cause,  and  justified  by  my  sincere 
belief  that  my  opponent  is  as  much  in  earnest  as  myself 
in  seeking  for  objective  truth.  And  verily  each  shall 
'find  me  ever  sincerely  ready  to  learn  th^  truth  from 
him. 

Let  me,  therefore,  relate  to  you,  briefly  and  explicitly, 
how  I  have  come  to  feel  myself  called  on  to  enter  into 
this  discussion. 

When  on  my  return  to  my  German  fatherland  in  the 
summer  of  last  year,  I  began  to  compare  what  I  saw 
there  in  traversing  its  various  districts,  with  the  result 
of  similar  observations  and  studies  during  my  fourteen 
years'  residence  in  England,  two  phenomena  immediately 
arrested  my  attention  as  universal  and  significant  charac- 
teristics of  the  age.     /  refer  to  the  spontaneous  and 


THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  ASSOCIATION.  29 

powerful  development  of  the  spirit  of  association^  and 
the  evident  increase  of  the  power  of  the  clergy  or 
hierarchy.  I  had  long  since  fixed  my  eye  on  both  these 
facts,  stnd  endeavored  to  understand  their  workings,  par- 
ticularly in  England. 

The  spirit  of  association^  to  speak  of  that  first,  is  of 
native  and  not  recent  growth  in  England ;  and  among 
the  modern  monuments  and  public  works  of  London,  or 
indeed  of  the  British  empire  at  large,  there  is  scarcely 
one  that  is  striking  or  of  any  magnitude  but  what  has 
its  root  in  this  principle.  The  British  empire  in  India, 
the  greatest  in  the  world,  has  grown  up  in  less  than  a 
century  from  a  company  of  traders  and  capitalists.  The 
great  American  republic  had  its  origin  for  the  most  part 
in  voluntary  Churches  and  other  English  associations, 
and  a  future  Canadian  Union,  which  already  looms  on 
the  horizon,  will  also  take  its  place  in  the  world's  history 
by  the  strength  of  this  same  spirit.  What  but  the  spirit 
of  association  has  called  into  existence,  within  the  last 
twenty  years,  the  gigantic  railway  structures,  which 
throw  into  the  shade  the  collective  results  of  all  that 
princes  and  states  had  ever  been  able  to  accomplish  in 
the  way  of  roads  and  canals,  and  whose  erection  has 
required  more  capital  than  the  revenues  of  all  the  states 
in  the  world  amount  to  ?  And  what  has  given  England, 
in  the  same  space  of  time,  more  new  churches  and  chap- 
els, and  congregations  of  all  Christian  sects,  than  govern- 
ments and  hierarchies  have  founded  during  the  whole 
course  of  the  last  four  hundred  years,  but  this  same 
principle? 

Is,  then,  this  spirit  of  association  a  product  of  the 
most  recent  times,  a  child  of  this  century,  or,  at  most, 
of  the  last  eighty  years  ?  Is  it  an  offshoot  of  modem 
industrial  activity,  or  is  it,  too,  a  conquest  of  the  philos^ 


30  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

ophy  of  the  last  century,  and  of  so-called  modem  civil- 
ization ?  England  proves  the  contrary.  Here  we  see, 
so  early  as  the  seventeenth  century,  the  formation  of 
voluntary  congregations,  which,  under  the  name  of 
Independents,  develop  themselves,  as  did  Christianity 
itself  once,  beneath  the  persecution  of  two  hostile  State 
Churches.  From  these  communities  proceeded  the 
modern  Baptists,  whom  even  learned  German  theologians 
still  to  this  day  affect  to  confound  with  the  Munster 
Anabaptists.  As  regards  their  form  of  government, 
they  are,  as  every  one  knows.  Independents  who  perform 
the  rite  of  baptism,  like  the  primitive  Christians,  by 
immersion;  and  only  administer  the  rite  to  such  as 
make  a  profession  of  personal  faith  in  Christ  as  the 
Redeemer,  and  publicly  pledge  themselves  to  live  accord- 
ingly. The  Baptists  also  arose  amid  persecution  as 
voluntary  congregations  of  believers,  and  not  only 
gained  a  footing  in  England  and  Scotland,  but  formed 
in  the  United  States  many  thousand  congregations, 
mostly  from  among  the  Independents.  The  congrega- 
tions are  independent  of  each  other ;  but,  like  the  Con- 
gregationalists,  have  formed  voluntary  unions ;  and  in 
the  United  States  now  number  more  than  five  million 
Christians,  white  and  black.  The  vitality  of  these  con- 
gregational Churches  is  evinced  by  their  missions ;  for 
the  Baptists  and  Independents  have  been  the  first  who 
have  converted  whole  tribes,  and  raised  them  into  fitness 
for  civil  life ;  while  the  Jesuit  missions  of  Paraguay  only 
trained  a  people  perfectly  incapable  of  self-government, 
and  unable  to  walk,  except  in  leading-strings.  For 
example  we  may  point  to  the  Independents  in  Tahiti, 
whom  the  French  missionaries  are  trying  to  counteract 
by  means  of  bayonets  and  brandy :  or  to  the  Baptists  in 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  where  the  State  founded  by  the 


PROTESTANT  SOCIETIES.  31 

Mission  forms  a  self-existent  Church  which  sends  out  its 
missionaries  into  the  Oceanic  Isles.  All  this  has  been 
done  in  sixty  years.  During  liiis  period,  nay,  for  the 
space  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  the  State  Churches 
of  England  and  Scotland  have  exhibited  but  little  capa- 
bility of  propagating  themselves ;  the  German  and  Dutch 
Reformed  Churches,  still  less;  and  the  Lutheran  Church, 
none  at  all.  To  the  same  principle  we  must  assign  the 
voluntary  associations  for  Pastoral  Aid  and  Scripture 
Readers,  and  the  Mission  for  the  City  of  London,  as  well 
as  all  the  associations  for  missionary  labor  at  home  and 
abroad,  and  also  the  Bible  Societies. 

The  whole  of  these  have  sprung  up  within  the  last 
sixty  years ;  and  now  they  send  forth  many  thousand 
evangelists  and  apostles  over  the  face  of  the  whole  earth, 
and  educate  as  many  more  from  among  their  converts 
belonging  to  the  most  dissimilar  races  of  Asia,  Africa, 
and  America,  to  become  a  parent-stock  for  future  races 
and  peoples.  The  youngest  of  these  voluntary  associa- 
tions, which  we  have  seen  shooting  up  before  our  eyes 
during  the  last  few  years  by  the  side  of  a  highly  respect- 
able, though  somewhat  torpid,  national  Church,  I  mean 
that  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  has,  in  only  ten 
years,  outstripped  the  activity  of  all  the  State  Churches 
in  the  world. 

But,  perhaps,  this  spirit  of  voluntary  association  is 
the  exclusive  property  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  ?  This 
is  decisively  contradicted  by  the  activity  of  the  associa- 
tions which  I  have  had  tiie  opportunity  of  observing 
within  the  last  twelve  months  in  Germany  and  France. 
In  spite  of  the  wounds  which  socialism  and  communism 
have  inflicted  on  civil  society,  in  spite  of  great  disorgan- 
ization and  disheartening  isolation,  lastly,  in  spite  of  the 
manifold  restrictions  to  which  all  associations  have  been 


82  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

subjected  since  1851,  I  have  everywhere  found  them 
springing  up  and  flourishing.  I  found  them  not  only 
on  the  field  of  industrial  activity,  but  also  in  still  greater 
number  on  that  of  public  and  religious  objects.  Associ- 
ations for  the  relief  of  the  poor  or  the  sick,  young  men's 
associations,  operative  associations,  were  everywhere  in 
fall  and  successful  operation,  notwithstanding  the  scanti- 
ness of  their  funds,  and  the  unfavorableness  of  the  times 
in  which  they  had  originated.  One  of  the  youngest  of 
these  associations,  the  Gustavus  Adolphus  Society  for 
the  aid  of  poor  Protestant  congregations,  more  especially 
those,  too  often  oppressed,  which  may  be  scattered  among 
Catholic  populations,  proves  the  universality  and  str^igth 
of  this  spirit  of  co-operation,  when  we  remember,  that  in 
a  few  very  unfavorable  and  bad  years,  half  a  million 
dollars  have  been  collected  by  this  society  and  expended 
with  great  conscientiousness. 

If  now  we  take  a  general  survey  of  these  religious 
associations  as  a  group  of  phenomena,  we  find  that  they 
have  all  proceeded  from  one  or  the  other  of  two  opposite 
tendencies.  None  of  them  have  been  associations  in  con- 
nection with  the  Government.  Most  of  them  are  volun- 
tary associations  of  Protestant  laymen :  in  England  and 
Scotland  all  are  so;  in  Germany,  by  far  the  greater 
number,  and  the  most  active.  On  the  other  side,  we 
find  Catholic  associations  existing  from  the  time  of 
Charles  X,,  in  France,  but  scarcely  anywhere  else  until 
1834 ;  since  which  time  a  good  many  have  sprung  up 
in  Germany.  They  have  been  founded  for  various  good 
works,  mostly  of  charity,  or  the  furtherance  of  ecclesias- 
tical objects,  such  as  the  diffusion  of  religious  books  (not, 
however,  of  the  Scriptures).  To  this  class  belong  the 
Pius  Society,  the  Borromaeus  Society,  to  which  is  now 
added,  the  Boniface  Society ;  but,  above  all,  the  Lyons 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  ASSOCIATION.  33 

Society  for  the  Propagation  of  Christianity.  These 
Catholic  associations  are,  in  general,  distinguished  from 
the  Protestant  by  one  striking  feature — the  activity  of 
the  laity  is  confined  to  the  raising  of  the  funds ;  while 
the  Protestant  associations,  for  the  most  part,  have  been 
founded  by  laymen,  and  are  managed  by  committees, 
the  majority  of  whose  members  are  also  laymen.  In  full 
accordance  with  the  laws  and  usages  of  the  ancient 
Christian  communities,  all  their  organic  laws  are  passed 
in  public  meetings,  and  publicity  is  their  principle  of  life. 
The  Propaganda  of  Lyons  does,  indeed,  publish  brief  an- 
nual reports,  but  there  the  matter  rests.  How  deeply,  on 
the  contrary,  have  the  Protestant  missions  interpenetrated 
the  whole  life  of  the  Churches !  They  not  only  raise  annu- 
ally nearly  thirty  million  dollars,  but  also  bring  together 
millions  of  human  beings.  Compared  to  these,  what  is 
the  recent  proposal  of  a  union  of  forty  thousand  priests 
in  Germany  with  forty  thousand  dollars  ?  Over  the  face 
of  almost  the  whole  earth,  weekly  missionary  meetings 
are  held,  in  which,  as  in  the  assemblies  of  the  primitive 
Christians,  communications  are  made  concerning  the 
faith,  the  doings,  and  the  sufierings  of  the  brethren; 
hymns  are  sung,  and  often  a  stirring  address  delivered. 
The  original  impulse,  therefore,  toward  the  formation  of 
these  institutions  came  from  the  Protestants,  and  has 
sprung  from  the  sentiment  of  the  oneness  of  that  Church 
whose  many  members  are  scattered  abroad  over  the 
whole  earth,  but  which  speaks  one  language,  just  because 
every  nation  speaks  in  her  own  tongue.  The  Jesuits 
have  sought  to  avail  themselves  of  this  sentiment  by  re- 
modeling their  old  affiliation-system  in  accordance  with 
it.  Thus,  on  the  one  hand,  we  have  congregations,  with 
their  preachers  and  the  Bible:  on  the  other,  Jesuit 
guilds  of  clerical  educators,  furnished  with  pecuniary 


34  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

means  by  the  laitj,  "with  ecclesiastical  books  of  devotion, 
and  forms  of  prayer. 

So  much,  for  the  present,  concerning  my  first  critical 
sign  of  the  times. 

But  equally  conspicuous,  both  on  the  Continent  and 
in  England,  is  the  second  sign  I  mentioned :  I  mean  the 
rising  power  of  the  clergy  as  a  governing  caste  or 
hierarchy^  and  especially ,  though  by  no  means  exclu- 
sively^ of  the  Romish.  Here,  too,  the  diversity  of  the 
whole  national  and  political  life  has  an  obvious  influence 
upon  the  complexion  of  the  particular  case :  still  the 
phenomenon  remains  essentially  the  same.  No  two 
things  can  be  more  unlike  than  English  Puseyism  and 
German  Lutheranism.  The  first  rests  upon  a  firmly 
established  episcopate,  independent  of  the  executive  and 
the  police,  and  reciprocally  influences  and  is  influenced 
by  many  national  movements.  But  modern  Lutheranism 
is  the  child  of  a  consistorial  church  of  officials.  We  find 
the  Lutheran  pastors  from  whom  this  hierarchical  ten- 
dency emanates,  with  few  exceptions,  entirely  uninflu- 
enced either  by  the  congregational  elements  for  which 
Germany  is  indebted  to  the  Reformed  Church,*  or  by 
the  outburst  of  new  life  throughout  the  Christian  world 
during  the  last  sixty  years.     To  both  these  elements  of 

*  The  term  Rrformed  Church  is  applied  in  Germany  to  those 
Churches  which  owe  their  origin  to  the  Swiss  School  of  Reform- 
ers. Though  sometimes  called  Calvinistic,  their  dogmatic  theo- 
logy by  no  means  always  coincides  with  what  we  generally 
understand  in  England  by  that  name;  they  differ  from  the 
Lutheran  Church  on  some  points  of  doctrine,  such  as  the  nature 
of  the  Sacraments,  Predestination,  etc.,  and  in  their  form  of 
church  government,  which  is  a  free  synodal  form  of  Presby- 
terianism  bearing  some  resemblance  to  the  Church  of  Scotland, 
while  the  Lutheran  has  somewhat  of  the  Episcopal  element, 
though  on  the  whole  more  Presbyterian  than  otherwise. — Tr. 


RISING  POWER  OP  THE   HIERARCHY.  35 

life  they  are  hostile,  as  derogatiQg  from  the  "  dignity  of 
the  sacred  office,"  or  even  infested  with  the  pestilence 
of  liberalism.  But  toward  the  peculiar  scientific  tend- 
ency of  German  thought,  whether  in  philosophy  or 
critical  philology,  to  which  they  owe  all  the  learning 
they  possess,  they  assume  an  attitude  of  direct  opposition, 
and  insist  on  a  theological  system  whicji  is  as  far  from 
the  leading  ideas  embodied  in  the  Protestant  Confessions 
as  from  the  spirit  of  that  first  and  most  genial  of  the 
Reformers,  whose  name  they  abuse.  Far  outstepping 
the  views  of  the  genial  Stefiens,  nay,  even  -of  the  more 
cautious  Harless,  they  accuse  their  instructors,  the  great 
men  of  our  universities,  of  holding  aloof  from  congrega- 
tional action,  and  of  having  sacrificed  practical  life  to 
critical  science  ;  entirely  forgetting  that  one  main  cause 
of  the  sickly  state  of  our  churches  is  precisely  what 
those  men  have  delivered  us  from.  They  reject  the 
unimpeachable  results  of  investigation  as  infidel,  and 
stigmatize  as  godless  that  which  has  essentially  proceeded 
from  a  deep  moral  and  religious  earnestness.  Thus,  so 
far  as  in  them  lies,  they  cut  away  the  root  of  congrega- 
tional life  on  the  one  hand,  by  the  heirarchical  preten- 
sions of  their  "office,"  which  issue  in  a  Catholicizing 
idea  of  the  Church ;  on  the  other  by  the  servile  bureau- 
cratic spirit  which  they  display  wherever  they  encounter 
the  element  of  free  congregational  activity.  If  they  do 
not  persecute  with  the  sword,  like  their  predecessors,  it 
appears  to  be  rather  owing  to  tv^ant  of  power  than  of  will. 
At  all  events,  they  show  the  will  wherever  they  are 
able,  as  we  shall  soon  have  occasion  to  see. 

But  of  all  these  hierarchical  aspirations,  I  shall  have 
so  much  to  say  hereafter,  my  respected  friend,  and  the 
fact  itself  is  so  patent,  that  I  may  here  dispense  with 
entering  further  into  detail.     Enough  has  been  said  to 


36  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

justify  and  explain  my  general  assertion  that  the  hie- 
rarchical element  pervades  the  whole  world.  The  pre- 
tensions to  a  divine  right  of  the  clerical  office  over 
conscience,  and  as  far  as  may  be  over  the  whole  mental 
culture  of  the  human  race,  are  every  where  the  same;  and 
the  contrast  presented  by  this  phenomenon  to  the  st^ 
of  things  at  the  commencement  of  the  century,  appeared 
to  me,  on  a  superficial  survey,  not  only  remarkable  but 
incomprehensible. 

What,  then,  I  asked,  is  the  origin  of  these  phenomena? 
Surely  it  must  lie  deep  in  the  whole  historical  develop- 
ment of  the  European  mind.  Else,  how  could  they 
present  themselves  under  such  dissimilar  conditions  of 
the  common  national  life  at  the  same  moment,  and  with 
results  of  such  magnitude  ? 

Is  their  cause  to  be  sought  in  defects  common  to  the 
various  social  conditions  of  the  past?  Or  are  they  only 
the  one-sided  and  passionate  manifestation  of  a  power  of 
organic  reconstruction  in  the  future  ?  Does  the  promi- 
nence of  associative  activity  point  to  a  future  universal 
republic?  Or  to  the  all-embracing  reign  of  democracy? 
Or  to  a  universal  empire,  the  downfall  of  constitutional 
monarchy,  and  the  advent  of  a  new  race  of  Caesars — an 
imperial  government,  with  pretorians  and  delators  under 
new  names? 

So,  too,  with  our  second  sign  of  the  times.'  Does  the 
revival  of  the  hierarchy  point  toward  a  restoration  of  the 
ecclesiastical  forms  of  the  sixteenth  or  seventeenth  cen- 
turies ?  Or  to  the  universal  sovereignty  of  the  Romish 
Church  upon  the  ruins  of  Gallican  and  German  privi- 
leges— of  Anglicanism,  as  of  the  Churches  of  Luther 
and  Calvin? 

And  then,  what  next^  either  in  the  West  or  the  East 
of  Europe  ? 


FREEDOM  OF  CONSCIENCE.  37 

But,  not  to  stray  from  the  solid  footing  of  the  present, 
we  ask,  first  and  before  all  things,  is  there  any  connec- 
tion between  these  two  phenomena,  either  in  their  recip- 
rocal action  or  ia  their  deepest  roots  ?  Or  are  they  in 
diametrical  opposition,  and  from  their  inmost  essence 
inimical,  so  that  he  who  would  hold  to  the  one  must  let 
go  the  other? 

Perhaps,  I  thought  to  myself,  we  may  gain  some  pre- 
liminary light  on  the  matter,  if  we  turn  our  eyes  to  two 
other  signs  of  the  times — the  ever-growing  aspiratmns 
of  the  nations  after  freedom  of  conscience  ;  and  the 
ever-increasing  Tnanifestation  of  the  desire  of  the 
clergy  for  the  suppression  of  that  freedom^  and  the 
persecution  of  those  of  a  different  perstmsion. 

The  striving  after  freedom  of  conscience  appears  in 
the  history  of  the  last  few  centuries,  and  especially  of 
the  last  eighty  years,  as  the  type  and  condition  of  legal 
freedom  in  general;  and  always  in  proportion  to  the 
stage  reached  in  the  development  of  social  and  political 
relations.  Just  so  was  it  at  the  first  propagation  of 
Christianity.  The  reconstruction  of  political  society  had 
its  prototype  in  the  Church,  and  proceeded  from  her. 
It  would  be  easy  to  show  in  detail  how  and  why  freedom 
of  conscience  is  really  the  condition  of  a  secure  possession 
and  a  right  use  of  all  other  liberties.  None  arise  with- 
out it,  and  from  it  all  others  flow,  in  a  natural  course  of 
development.  So  in  the  first  place  it  has  been  with  the 
freedom  of  science.  The,  story  of  Galileo  is  sufficient  to 
show  how  nearly  this  trenches  on  that  of  religion.  The 
history  of  the  nations  which  have  enjoyed  freedom  of 
conscience  proves  what  a  much  happier  use  they  have 
made  of  the  liberty  of  scientific  research  which  followed 
that  of  religion,  than  those  nations  to  whom  this  first  of 
all  liberties  was  wanting,  and  who  desired  to  be  free 


38  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

without  conscience,  and  to  possess  rights  without  bearing 
in  their  own  breasts  the  sense  of  duty.  The  same  thing 
meets  us  still  more  visibly  and  significantly  in  the  rela- 
tions of  political  to  religious  liberty. 

The  cause  of  these  phenomena  it  is,  however,  also  not 
difficult  to  perceive.  For,  if  all  individual  liberty  can 
only  bring  forth  wholesome  fruits  in  so  far  as  it  is  con- 
scientiously regarded  and  exercised ;  if  conscientiousness, 
and,  therefore,  true  morality,  can  only  exist  where  the 
holy  of  holies  in  the  conscience — the  faith  in  God,  and 
.  the  will  to  serve  Him — is  respected  by  the  absence  of 
every  sort  of  constraint ;  then,  surely,  the  right  use  of 
every  other  Jiberty  must  lie  in  this  fundamental  liberty. 

And  what  is  true  of  political  liberty  in  general  holds 
good,  also,  in  particular,  of  the  free  expression  of  opinion, 
or  what  is  called  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  and 
finally  also  of  the  right  of  free  industrial  association. 
In  this  last  direction,  we  see  zealous  and  active  efibrts  to 
substitute  freedom  of  industry  for  closed  guilds,  free 
trade  for  restrictive  regulations.  As  in  former  cases,  so 
in  the  present  instance,  the  enemies  of  association  predict 
the  dissolution  of  the  bonds  of  society,  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  all  existing  social  order.  But  in  every  sphere 
experience  has  proved  the  contrary,  and  the  final  reason 
is  everywhere  the  same — that  no  developement  of  human- 
ity is  so  grand  as  that  which  takes  place  where  there  is 
full  security  for  the  moral  and  legal  freedom  of  the  indi- 
vidual, as  well  as  of  society.  In  other  words,  the  safe- 
guard for  popular  liberties  does  not  lie  in  ideas  of  the 
understanding,  and  the  enlightenment  based  thereon, 
but  in  the  groundwork  of  morality,  and  in  moral  culture. 
But  these,  as  we  have  seen,  rest  on  freedom  of  conscience, 
so  far  as  that  is  understood  and  desired  by  the  people. 
•  But  who  will  deny  that  this  is  the  desire  of  all  Christian 


INTOLERANCE  AND  PERSECUTION.  39 

nations,  Protestant  or  Catholic — the  aspiration  which, 
from  the  days  of  the  Reformation,  we  have  seen  gradually 
rising  with  purer  and  purer  flame  from  the  ashes  of 
mediaeval  oppression  and  disorder  ? 

Thus  popular  fanaticism,  or  whatever  else  we  may  call 
the  misled  religious  sense  of  the  nations,  will  not  serve 
us  to  explain  our  second  phenomenon — namely  intoler- 
ance and  persecution.  Both  are  to  be  named  together, 
for  all  religious  persecution — except  it  be  the  mere  mask 
of  political  violence — comes  from  intolerance,  and  all  in- 
tolerance necessarily  leads  to  persecution,  so  soon  as 
there  is  any  real  religious  earnestness  in  the  individual. 
Religious  persecution  is  of  most  ancient  growth,  as  is 
also  the  aspiration  toward  religious  freedom.  But,  as 
the  multitude  here  and  there  believe — and  as  many  are 
now  wishing  to  make  them  believe — ^that  the  men  of  the 
French  Revolution  were  the  first  to  demand  and  estab- 
lish freedom  of  conscience,  namely,  from  unbelief,  and 
on  behalf  of  irreligion,  so  do  many  also  think  that  the 
intolerant  and  persecuting  spirit,  which  we  hear  them 
not  only  excuse  but  defend,  nay,  sometimes  absolutely 
laud,  as  a  proof  of  earnestness  of  faith — and  still  worse, 
which  we  see  them  in  these  days  practice — is  a  phenom- 
enon of  the  last  few  years,  and  the  work  of  a  few  leading 
men.  The  phenomenon  has  been  indigenous  among  us 
for  the  last  thirty  years :  and  for  the  last  forty,  a  silent 
preparation  for  it  has  been  evidently  going  on  in  men's 
minds.  Does  it  proceed  from  the  hierarchy,  or  from  the 
governments,  or  from  the  peoples  ?  It  is,  at  first  sight, 
certainly,  the  most  perplexing  riddle  of  this  century. 

Wherever  a  nation  at  large  has  striven  for  and  con- 
quered political  freedom,  it  has  never  forgotten  to  lay 
down  the  principle  of  freedom  of  conscience,  still  less 
clamored  for  persecution.     And  though  the  Spaniards 


40  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

would  not  accept  the  Napoleonic  tolerance,  which  came 
to  them  in  the  train  of  craft  and  violence,  and  bore  no 
impress  of  moral  earnestness,  yet  even  there  the  indus- 
trial masses  have  begun  to  perceive  that  the  true  Chris- 
tian religion  must  be  able  to  exist  without  inquisition,  or 
sword,  or  dungeon,  and  that  those  must  have  understood 
little  of  its  nature  (not  even  excepting  Donoso  Cortes 
and  Balmes)  who  maintain,  and  withal  to  God's  glory, 
that  this  is  not  possible. 

But  who  would  have  dreamt,  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  that,  in  the  land  which  saw  the  judicial  murder 
of  Jean  Calas,  symptoms  of  religious  hatred  should 
manifest  themselves  immediately  on  the  return  of  the 
Bourbons — that,  cotemporaneously  with  Le  Maistre  and 
De  Bonald.  a  school  would  arise  which  should  defend 
the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholemew,  and  apply  to  it  those 
fearful  words : 

"  Ce  sang  etait-il  done  si  pur  ?" 

— that,  in  1823,  Ferdinand  VII.  should  only  have  been 
restrained  with  difficulty  from  re-establishing  the  inqui- 
sition in  Spain — that,  in  1832,  the  Protestant  inhabit- 
ants of  the  Zillerthal,  in  Tyrol,  after  suffering  many 
attacks  and  heavy  oppressions,  contrary  to  the  law, 
should  at  last  have  been  driven  into  exile  as  an  act  of 
mercy,  us  was  the  case  in  1853  with  the  Madiai  in 
Florence?  Yes,  who  would  have  believed  that,  under 
the  scepter  of  the  brother  of  the  religious  and  liberal 
Alexander  I.,  in  the  empire  of  Peter  the  Great,  which, 
though  despotic,  was  based  on  univeral  toleration,  thou- 
sands of  Protestants,  and  millions  of  the  United  Greek 
Church,  would  be  forced  over  to  the  dominant  and 
national  Church  by  every  evil  art  of  treachery  and 
violence,  in  provinces  where  this  national  Church  of 


SPIRIT  OF  PERSECUTION  ABROAD.  41 

Eussia  had  never  been  the  prevailing  one,  or  never 
existed  at  all  before  ? 

Nay,  even  among  Protestants  rages  this  demon  of 
persecution.  The  Estates  of  that  Swedish  nation  which 
two  centuries  ago  combated  with  such  heroism  and  faith 
for  the  religious  freedom  of  their  Protestant  brethren  in 
Germany,  have  passed  in  the  preceding  year,  an  exceed- 
ingly intolerant  law,  ordaining  the  persecution  of  evan- 
gelical associations,  and  the  banishment  of  natives  who 
go  over  to  the  Romish  Church.  After  long  he&itation, 
the  king  has  set  his  seal  to  this  cruel  decree  ;  while  in 
pious  Norway,  perfect  freedom  of  religion  prevails.* 

And  look  at  Germany  !  Not  only  in  Mecklenburg, 
which  has  fallen  a  prey  to  measureless  political  retro- 
gression, but  even  in  other  German  countries,  a  vehe- 
ment and  bitter  persecution  has  been  set  on  foot  against 
the  Baptist  congregations,  which  had  begun  to  form 
themselves  under  the  shelter  of  a  short  interval  of 
religious  freedom. f     Nay,  what  is  still  more  astounding, 

*  In  Sweden,  not  only  persons  who  have  dissented  from  the 
Established  Church,  but  numbers  of  its  members,  have  been  sub- 
jected to  fines  and  imprisonments  under  the  Conventicle  Law, 
which  prohibits  all  meetings  for  religious  worship  held  apart  fi'om 
the  Lutheran  Church.  In  the  last  Diet  a  law  was  passed  w;hich 
makes  it  highly  criminal  to  administer  or  receive  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, except  as  connected  with  the  hierarchy.  At  tiie  present 
time  Baptist  pastors  labor  under  sentence  of  perpetual  expatria- 
tion. The  laws  of  Sweden,  moreover,  banish  Roman  CathoHcs, 
and  absolutely  prohibit  their  worship.  (  See  "  Evangelical  Christ- 
endom" for  July  and  August,  1855,  and  Jan.  1856.) — Tr. 

t  In  almost  all  the  States  of  Glermany,  persons  dissenting  from 
the  Established  Churches  have  been  prohibited  from  meeting  to 
worship  Grod  in  the  way  which  their  consciences  approve,  from 
observing  the  sacraments,  and  from  every  pubHc  act  of  a  religious 
nature.  There  are  cases  in  which  these  laws  have  been  so 
strictly  enforced  that  persons  have  been  accused  of  holding  a 


42  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

even  among  freethinking  Christian  men  in  Germany, 
principles  have  been  enunciated  in  opposition  to  religious 
freedom  which  were  more  appropriate  to  the  seventeenth 
than  to  the  nineteenth  centurj.*  Nay,  even  the  lead- 
ers of  liberal  political  parties  among  us  make  a  boast  of 
their  exclusiveness  as  regards  the  Jews.  Whence  arises 
this  lagging  behind  of  the  Germans  in  the  march  of 
humanity  ? 

The  spirit  of  persecution  is  not,  therefore,  to  be  con- 
sidered as  the  isolated  endeavor  of  fanatical  or  a-mbitious 

reli^ous  meeting,  because  one  person,  not  a  member  of  the 
family,  has  been  found  reading  a  religious  book.  In  Mecklenburg, 
in  Schaumburg-Lippe,  in  Hesse-Cassel,  and  in  other  parts  of 
Germany,  persons  offending  against  such  laws  have  been  visited 
with  heavy  and  ruinous  fines,  with  the  confiscation  of  their  prop- 
erty, and  with  imprisonment  on  bread  and  water,  as  though  they 
were  felons ;  and  many  have  left  their  native  country,  under  the 
severe  necessity  of  a  compulsory  expatriation.  In  some  cases 
£he  marriage  rite,  which  is  legal  only  when  solemnized  in  the 
Estabhshed  Churches,  has  been  refused  on  the  score  that  the 
parties  had  not  received  the  Sacrament,  they  having  been  refiised 
the  Sacrament  for  having  attended  conventicle  meetings;  and 
persons  have  for  years  remained  single  in  consequence.  In  one 
case  where  the  parties,  having  endeavored  in  vain  for  three  years 
to  get  any  clergyman  to  marry  them,  had  resolved  to  undertake 
the  long  journey  to  England,  to  be  married  there,  passports  were 
refused  them  on  the  object  of  their  journey  being  discovered. 
An  idea  of  the  views  on  this  subject  held  even  by  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  Prussian  clergy,  may  be  formed  from  the  Appen- 
dix to  Letter  IX.  For  fiirther  details,  I  beg  to  refer  my  readers 
to  "Evangelical  Christendom,"  for  February,  May,  October, 
and  November,  1855,  and  to  a  most  instructive  pamphlet,  enti- 
tled "Protestant  Persecutions  in  Switzerland  and  Germany," 
by  the  Rev.  T.  R.  Brooke,  and  the  Rev.  E.  Steane,  pubUshed  by 
Partridge,  Oakey  and  Co.,  1854.—^. 

*  See  tlie  correspondence  of  M.  Von  Bethmann-HoUweg  and 
Count  Pourtales,  with  M.  Merle  d'Aubigne,  as  given  in  "  Evan- 
gelical Christendom,"  vol.  viii.,  p.  236,  vol.  ix.,  pp.  49,  233.—^. 


FESTIVAL  OF  ST.   BONIFACE.  43 

individuals,  but  has  roots  in  our  social  conditions. 
Neither  can  it  be  designated  as  the  tendency  of  a  single 
church  or  a  single  nation.  Is  it  the  offspring  of  the  re- 
cruited power  of  the  hierarchy  ?  or  is  it  the  consequence 
of  the  general  direction  taken  by  religious  thought  on 
ecclesiastical  questions,  or  a  direct  effect  of  retrograde 
absolutism  ?  or  has  it  yet  deeper  grounds  in  the  sense  of 
the  inward  unsoundness  of  the  existing  ecclesiastical  and 
political  organizations? 

Here  you  have,  then,  my  dear  friend,  a  cursory  indi- 
.  cation  of  the  thoughts  and  considerations  which  filled 
my  head  and  heart  when  I,  last  summer,  after  so  long 
an  absence,  had  at  last  the  happiness  of  taking  up  my 
abode  once  more  in  my  German  fatherland.  Shall  I 
tell  you  now  what  strange  feelings  have  possessed  me 
during  the  last  fourteen  days  in  connection  with  these 
topics  ? 

As  I  was  reviewing  mentally  all  these  striking  and 
grave  phenomena,  and  seeking  to  link  them  in  with  the 
results  of  my  former  observation  and  experience,  there 
resounded  in  my  ears,  from  the  neighboring  cities  of 
Fulda  and  Mayence,  the  summons  to  the  celebration  of 
the  eleventh  centenary  of  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Boniface. 
The  Anglo-Saxon,  Winfrid,  is  almost  universally  styled 
the  Apostle  of  Germany,  and  his  name  can  hardly  be 
unfamiliar  to  any  cultivated  German.  Thus,  when  I 
learned  that  Baron  Ketteler,  the  Bishop  of  Mayence, 
and  successor  of  that  apostle,  had  invited  his  flock  to 
celebrate  that  festival  by  a  Pastoral;  and  taken  this 
opportunity  to  address  himself  solemnly,  like  a  second 
Boniface,  to  the  conscience  of  all  Germany,  I  thought 
to  myself,  What  a  blessing  that  I  am  now  in  Germany  ! 
I  shall  now  have  part  in  all  that  my  nation  experiences  ; 
and  since  this  bishop  is  a  man  of  such  exalted  and  ascetic 


44  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

piety,  it  is  a  further  happiness  to  live,  as  I  do,  in  his 
immediate  neighborhood.  Who  would  not  gladly  open 
his  ears  to  the  latest  utterances  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
from  a  prelate  whom  many  regard  as  a  saint — all  as  a 
man  of  extraordinary  force  of  mind;  and  who  must 
necessarily,  from  his  station,  have  a  profound  acquaint- 
ance with  the  subject  on  which  he  is  about  to  instruct  us? 
this  dignitary  of  the  Christian  Church  (thought  I),  in 
speaking  of  the  Apostle  of  the  Germans,  will  surely  not 
forget  the  German  people.  Yea,  in  a  thankful  sense  of 
the  honor  and  happiness  of  belonging  to  so  great  a  nation, 
he  will  speak  of  it  with  reverent  affection,  and  in  the 
presence  of  the  dangers  threatening  us  from  East  or 
West,  feel,  more  deeply  than  ever,  the  duty  and  desir- 
ableness of  exhorting  all  Germans  to  mutual  love,  and 
the  averting  of  every  foreign  influence.  In  this  respect, 
he  will,  doubtless,  not  wish  to  remain  behind  his  great 
pattern,  the  learned  and  intellectual  Cardinal  Wiseman, 
who,  with  all  his  zeal  for  his  Church,  ever  speaks  of  the 
English  nation,  not  only  with  respect,  but  with  warm 
affection  and  enthusiastic  admiration;  although  the 
Reformation  has  penetrated  into  the  very  flesh  and  blood 
of  the  English  so  much  more  than  it  has  among  the 
Germans.  Thus,  if  Bishop  Ketteler  should  rank  his 
saint  and  predecessor  higher  than  we  Protestants  can  do, 
we  will  not  take  it  amiss  of  him. 

With  these  thoughts,  I  procured  the  Bishop's  Pastoral 
and  other  writings,  and  have  been  reading  them  during 
the  last  few  weeks  with  all  attention.  And  now  what 
shall  I  say  of  them,  my  respected  friend  ?  At  all  events, 
the  truth.  Then  I  must  tell  you  at  the  outset  that  I 
have  indeed  found  this  Pastoral  highly  important  and 
deserving  of  attention :  but  with  equal  candor  I  must  con- 
fess it,  in  a  sense  by  no  means  cheering  or  satisfactory. 


DUTY  OF  PROTESTANTS.  45 

Just  at  the  same  time,  within  the  last  few  weeks,  I 
heard  Avith  profound  surprise,  through  the  most  trust- 
worthy channels,  of  the  sufferings  of  two  brethren  in  the 
faith,  who  had  been  cast  into  prison  on  account  of  their 
religion.  Alas  !  thought  I,  this  harmonizes  but  ill  with 
the  festival  of  St.  Boniface,  in  which  I  felt  so  much 
inclined  to  take  a  part.  0  that  one  of  the  watchmen  of 
Zion  would  now  step  forth  I  0,  that  one  of  those  emin- 
ent and  eloquent  men,  who  stand  as  the  pillars  of  the 
Protestant  Church,  would  now  speak  out  in  behalf  of  the 
imperiled  liberty  of  conscience  of  their  brethren ;  above 
all,  one  of  the  men  whom  the  leading  Protestant  Church 
of  the  Continent  has  intrusted  with  the  task  of  building 
up  the  Union,  and  training  our  national  Church  to  inde- 
pendence and  self-government!  Now  would  be  the 
moment  to  expose  the  immorality  and  unreasonableness 
of  all  religious  oppression,  especially  when  directed 
against  fellow  Christians ;  and  who  has  so  clear  a  calling 
to  the  work  as  one  of  those  leading  men  ?  We  should 
one  and  all  thank  them,  if  they,  with  that  Protestant 
and  apostolic  plainness  of  speech,  and  philosophic  clear- 
ness of  thought  which  they  possess,  proclaimed  before  all 
rulers  and  nations  our  detestation  of  such  atrocities ;  and 
at  the  same  time,  pointed  out  the  unseen  blessings,  both 
for  State  and  Church,  which  lie  hidden  in  the  bosom  of 
perfect  religious  liberty.  And  lo  1  on  the  twenty-ninth 
of  May  what  should  I  find  on  my  study-table  but  a  copy 
of  Professor  Stahl's  oration,  already  in  print,  bearing 
the  very  title  of  a  "Discourse  on  Christian  Toleration."* 

*  Dr.  Stahl,  the  author  of  Handbooks  on  "  Ecclesiastical  Law," 
and  "  The  Philosophy  of  Law  and  the  State,"  was  called  to  Berlin 
as  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  Law,  in  1840.  He  has,  since  then, 
been  made  Privy  Councillor  of  Justice,  and  Crown-Syndic  in  the 
Upper  House;  and  in  1852  was  appointed  a  Member  of  the 


46  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

I  was  amazed  at  the  discovery  that  a  man  so  celebrated 
had  delivered  this  discourse  so  long  ago  as  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  March,  in  Berlin,  before  the  court  and  a  numer- 
ous and  brilliant  assembly,  at  the  request  of  a  Society, 
which  is  entitled,  'par  excellence^  the  "  Protestant."  So 
what  I  was  wishing  (said  I  to  myself)  has  really  come 
to  pass,  and  I  have  been  left  in  ignorance  of  it  for  the 
last  two  months,  only  because  I  neglect  to  read  the 
^^  Evangelische  Kirchenzeitung^^^  regularly,  and  none 
of  my  Christian  friends  has  drawn  my  attention  to  so 
important  an  event.  But  when  with  eager  curiosity  I 
came  to  read  the  pamphlet,  I  knew  not  what  to  think  of 
myself  or  of  the  great  political  orator  and  party-leader 
who  had  written  it.  Either  I  had  entirely  unlearned  in 
England  the  meaning  of  tolerance  and  religious  liberty, 
and  what  in  Prussia  bears  the  name  of  Protestantism 
and  the  Union — and,  if  so,  at  my  advanced  age  there 
was  little  hope  of  making  up  my  lost  ground,  and  I  saw 
myself  doomed  to  pay  this  heavy  penalty  for  my  absence 
from  Germany,  and  especially  from  Berlin,  and  to  die  at 
last,  if  not  in  cheerless  unbelief,  yet  in  distressing  and 
shameful  ignorance — or  I  must  come  to  the  scarcely  less 
painful  conclusion,  that  one  of  the  first  political  and 
ecclesiastical  jurists  of  Grermany,  a  celebrated  philosoph- 
ical writer,  an  admired  orator,  a  member  not  only  of  the 
Upper  House  but  also  of  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical 
Council,  a  leader  of  the  Kirchentag — finally,  a  man  of 
grave  and  Christian  conversation,  from  whom  I  myself 
had  formerly  expected  much  service,  both  in  Church 

Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council.    He  formerly  advocated  moder- 
ate views,  both  in  religion  and  politics ;  but,  in  1850,  joined  the 
extreme  reactionary  party,  headed  by  Gerlach,  of  which  he  is 
now  one  of  the  most  prominent  members. — 5V. 
*  Protestant  Church  Gazette. — Tr. 


CHRISTIAN  TOLERATION.  47 

and  State — had  totally  forgotten  the  history  of  Protest- 
antism and  the  mission  of  all  Protestants,  himself  in- 
cluded, in  the  present  and  the  future !  For  I  could  not 
conceal  from  myself,  that  if  the  principles  of  toleration 
and  freedom  of  conscience  preached  by  him  were  sound, 
no  logical  possibility  would  be  left  us  of  denouncing  the 
persecutors  of  our  brethren,  or  of  stigmatizing  their  a<;ts 
as  intolerant  and  persecuting. 

The  proofs  of  my  assertion  I  will  not  fail  to  present 
to  you,  in  so  far  as  they  are  called  for  by  the  great 
problem  which  I  propose  to  myself,  namely,  to  inquire 
into  the  true  theory  of  liberty  of  conscience  in  the  case 
of  the  individual,  and  the  rights  of  the  congregation  in 
the  sphere  of  the  Church ;  and,  in  particular,  whether 
such  liberty  and  rights  are  really  things  so  mischievous 
and  irrational  as  is  now  preadhed  to  us  with  so  much 
zeal  for  our  conversion,  and  anxiety  for  the  safety  of  our 
souls. 

Here  you  have,  in  general  terms,  the  impression 
made  upon  me  by  the  perusal  of  the  two  addresses  to 
which  I  have  referred.  The  Pastoral  of  the  Bishop 
seemed  to  me,  in  every  respect  portentous ;  the  lecture 
of  the  Berlin  Ecclesiastical-Councillor  seemed  to  me 
rather  to  deserve  the  title  of  a  discourse  on  Lutheran 
Intolerance,  than  on  Christian  Toleration.  'Thus  you 
will  see,  too,  my  respected  friend,  in  what  perplexity, 
or  rather  in  what  anguish  of  heart,  I  turned  to  you  in 
spirit,  and  resolved  to  ask  you  to  discuss  with  me  these 
matters  of  such  general  and  weighty  interest  on  occasion 
of  the  approaching  commemoration. 

Let  an  earnest  consideration  of  these  two  signs  of  the 
times  be  our  German,  Christian,  and  human  mode  of 
keeping  this  feast.  Boniface  shall  be  our  starting-point; 
universal  history,  our  guide :  the  discovery  of  a  clew 


48  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

whereby  we  may  disentangle  the  perplexities  presented 
by  our  existing  social  conditions,  our  aim.  Every  great 
festival  must  have  its  eve  of  preparation ;  and  so  I  invite 
you,  on  the  eve  of  the  great  festival  on  the  fourth  of  this 
month,  to  try  what  preparation  we  can  find  in  Bishop 
Ketteler's  Pastoral  appropriate  to  a  worthy  celebration 
of  the  remarkable  event  which  it  commemorates. 


LETTER    II. 

THE  EVE  OF  THE  FESTIVAL  OF  ST.  WINFRID — BISHOP 
KETTELER'S  PASTORAL — THE  GERMAN  NATION  AND 
THE   ANGLO-SAXONS. 

Charlottknberg,  June  4th,  1855. 

Eve  of  the  Feast  of  St.  Boniface. 

My  Respected  Friend: 

The  eve  of  the  Jubilee  has  arrived.  As  it  befits 
the  season,  we  will  observe  it  with  a  brief  meditation. 

Our  text  shall  be  that  letter  written  immediately  after 
his  return  from  the  grave  of  our  Apostle,  by  which 
Baron  Ketteler  has  announced  the  eleventh  centenary 
festival  of  the  death  of  his  great  predecessor,  and  invited 
the  faithful  of  his  flock  to  its  celebration. 

It  lies  before  me  under  the  following  title :  "A 
Pastoral  Letter  from  the  most  reverend  Lord,  Wilhelm 
Emanuel,  Bishop  of  the  Holy  See  of  Mayence,  to  the 
clergy  and  believers  of  his  diocese,  on  occasion  of  the 
eleventh  Centenary  of  the  holy  Archbishop  and  Martyr, 
St.  Boniface."  This  pastoral  letter  has  been  since  pub- 
lished as  a  pamphlet  at  Mayence,  whence  it  has  been 
widely  circulated  in  this  part  of  the  country.  By  this 
solemn  inscription,  the  Lord  Bishop  has,  therefore, 
entered  the  domain  of  publicity ;  and  it  is  our  right,  not 
to  say  our  duty,  to  examine  and  judge  this  address  like 
any  other  literary  production.  The  Bishop  commences 
his  announcement  of  the  festival  with  a  brief  account  of 

3 


50  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

the  wonders  wrought  bj  our  Apostle,  to  whom  God  (as 
he  says)  did  not  make  known  his  calling  immediately  by 
an  inward  revelation,  but  by  the  visible  head  of  the 
Church,  the  Pope. 

"  Now"  (continues  the  Bishop),  "  by  the  fact  that  the 
personal  dignity  of  St.  Boniface  was  transferred  to  this 
chair  by  the  elevation  of  the  see  of  Mayence  to  the 
primacy  over  Germany,  a  provision  was  made  for  the 
permanence  of  this  unity,  and  the  Germans  were  hence- 
forward duly  prepared  for  the  fulfillment  of  the  exalted 
task  which  God  had  assigned  to  them  in  the  history  of 
the  world."  Starting  from  this  position,  he  proceeds,  to 
carry  out  the  idea,  that  without  the  influence  exercised 
and  the  institutions  founded  by  St.  Boniface,  the  Carlo- 
vingian  dynasty  ''  would  never  have  risen  to  the  idea  of 
a  Christian  polity  and  international  relations;"  nay,  that 
without  him,  there  could  have  been  no  German  nation, 
probably  not  even  a  common  German  language.  Then, 
however,  the  Bishop  continues,  and  here  I  must  give  his 
own  words  entire : 

"  When,  therefore,  at  a  later  period,  this  spiritual  foundation 
was  broken  up,  and  the  spiritual  bond  was  rent  asunder  with 
which  St.  Boniface  had  bound  the  German  tribes  together,  there 
was  an  end  of  G-erman  unity  and  the  greatness  of  the  German 
nation.  As  the  Jewish  nation  lost  its  vocation  upon  earth  when 
it  crucified  the  Messiah,  so  did  the  German  nation  forfeit  its  high 
vocation  in  the  Kingdom  of  God,  when  it  broke  the  unity  of  faith 
which  had  been  established  by  St.  Boniface. 

"  Since  then,  Germany  has  done  little  but  help  to  destroy  the 
Kingdom  of  Christ  upon  earth,  and  to  set  up  a  heathen  view  of 
the  world.  Since  then,  with  the  old  faith,  the  old  loyalty  has 
disappeared  more  and  more,  and  not  all  the  bolts  and  locks,  nor 
prisons  and  houses  of  correction,  nor  poUce  and  sentinels,  in  the 
world,  avail  to  supply  the  place  of  conscience.  Since  then, 
Germans  have  been  ever  diverging  more  widely  from  each  other 
in  heart  and  thought,  and  we  are  now,  perhaps,  in  the  very  midst 


MISSION  OF  THE  GERMAN  NATION.  51 

of  a  chain  of  events  which  is  paving  the  way  for  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  German  people  as  a  single  nation,  and  building  up  a 
wall  between  our  various  member^,  as  solid  as  those  which  al- 
ready divide  us  from  other  peoples  of  German  race.  Since  then, 
those  branches  suffer  also  which  have  remained  on  the  old  stem; 
for  when  a  great  branch  is  broken  off  from  a  mighty  tree,  the 
whole  tree  begins  to  sicken,  and  it  is  long  ere  it  regains  its  former 
vigor  and  the  old  branch  is  replaced  by  a  new  one.  This  is  the 
source  of  much  delusion.  Men  reproach  the  CathoHc  Church 
with  the  many  sins  of  her  members,  with  the  many  lamentable 
things  which  occur  even  in  Catholic  countries,  without  reflecting 
that  they  are  for  the  most  part  the  consequences  of  that  unhappy 
schism.  The  nobler  the  member,  the  deeper  is  the  injury  inflicted 
on  the  body  when  it  begins  to  refuse  its  services.  The  higher 
the  original  vocation  of  the  German  people  in  the  development 
of  the  Christian  order  of  the  world,  the  deeper  and'  more  per- 
manent must  have  been  the  shock  to  that  organization,  when  that 
member  refused  its  office,  and  the  longer  must  it  last  before  a 
new  branch  can  replace  the  fallen  limb,  and  fulfill  the  mission 
which  the  German  nation  has  cast  aside.'^ 

Truly  these  are  weighty  words;  and,  spoken  on  so 
solemn  an  occasion  by  a  man  of  such  personal  eminence, 
and  one  of  the  most  influential  of  German  prelates, 
they  claim  a  doubly  serious  consideration  at  our  hands. 

The  German  nation  is  accused  of  having  forfeited  its 
vocation  in  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  by  the  Reformation, 
as  the  Jews  lost  their  vocation  as  the  chosen  people  of 
God  by  their  crucifixion  of  the  Messiah.  As  a  palpable 
proof  that  this  reading  of  history  is  that  of  a  true 
prophet,  called  to  proclaim  God's  voice  and  His  eternal 
judgments  in  the  events  of  His  providence,  three  asser- 
tions are  made.  First,  that  since  that  epoch,  Germany 
has  almost  exclusively  exercised  a  destructive  influence 
in  the  world  of  thought,  and  been  the  parent  of  a  heathen 
view  of  the  world.  Secondly,  that  there  has  been  a 
decay  of  the  old  German  loyalty,  nay,  of  conscience 
itself,  which  no  civil  penalties  or  correctional  institutions 


52  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

can  replace.  As  the  former  assertion  is  the  prophetic 
interpretation  of  history,  so  is  the  latter  the  prophetic 
reading  of  the  present.  But  the  prediction  of  the  future, 
likewise,  is  not  wanting.  The  Reformation  is  destined 
to  bring  about  the  annihilation  of  the  German  nation- 
ality, and  the  various  races  which  were  united  in  such 
close  spiritual  bonds  by  Boniface  and  the  Carlovingians, 
and  which  still  possess  a  common  language  and  culture, 
will  soon  be  as  far  divided  from  each  other  as  they  are  now 
from  Switzerland  and  Holland,  or  even  from  the  British 
Anglo-Saxons.  Nor  is  this  enough.  Through  this 
crucifixion  of  Christ  afresh  in  his  Church,  the  German 
nation  is  responsible  for  the  undeniable  decay  and  cor- 
ruption of  the  nations  which  have  remained  in  the 
Catholic  unity.  If  a  thousand  voices  in  Italy  and  Spain 
rise  to  heaven  in  lamentation  over  the  wretched  state  of 
these  once  so  flourishing  lands,  these  once  so  powerful 
nations ;  if  thousands  on  both  sides  of  the  Pyrenees  are 
sighing  over  the  corruption  of  religion  and  morality ;  if 
(according  to  the  latest  official  reports,  which  are  now 
filling  all  Europe  with  horror)  the  prisons  of  the  Papal 
States  are  crowded  with  men  guilty  of  the  most  horrible 
and  loathsome  crimes,  to  an  extent  hitherto  unparalleled 
among  Christians  or  Turks  (twenty-one  parricides  among 
others)  :  on  whom  does  the  guilt  rest  but  on  ourselves, 
the  German  nation  ?  The  unfortunate  peoples  and  gov- 
ernments are  sufiering  from  the  consequence  of  our  god- 
less deeds  committed  three  hundred  years  ago ! 

Ought  we,  my  respected  friend,  to  keep  silence  under 
such  unheard-of  accusations  ?  Boniface  belongs  already 
to  the  history  of  the  world,  and  every  German  especially 
has  the  right  to  see  that  full  justice  be  rendered  to  that 
remarkable  man  and  his  works.  But  our  national  honor 
is  a  holy  thing,  to  contend  for  which,  as  far  as  truth 


RESPONSIBILITIES  OF  GERMANY.  53 

permits,  appears  a  sacred  duty.  And  now  such  an 
accusation  !  on  such  an  occasion !  in  such  an  emergency 
in  the  affairs  of  our  fatherland  and  of  the  world  ! 

The  future  belongs  to  God ;  but  conscience  interprets 
the  signs  of  the  times,  and,  above  all,  truth-seeking 
humanity  pronounces  a  final  verdict.  But  for  a  con- 
scientious inquirer  there  can  be  no  safer  course  than  to 
contemplate  the  phenomena  around  him  in  the  mirror  of 
history,  and  meditate  on  them  in  the  light  of  the  Gospel. 
And  so  doing,  I  believe  we  can  point  the  Bishop  who 
prophesies  such  evil  and,  according  to  my  conviction, 
untrue  things,  to  a  very  different  picture  within  the  very 
tribe  with  which  Boniface  was  more  immediately  con- 
nected, the  reality  of  which  will  be  evident  to  all  the 
world.*  But  the  whole  of  Germany  offers  to  our  view 
only  one  portion,  if  no  insignificant  one,  of  the  great 
destinies  that  are  being  evolved  around  us.  The  reign- 
ing powers  of  the  whole  civilized  world  form  one  family, 
the  much-divided  household  of  Christ,  whose  members 
occupy  very  different  stations  in  the  great  highway  of 
human  progress,  but  who  have  all  set  out  from  the  same 
point  and  advance  toward  the  same  end,  although  they 
have  traveled  and  still  travel  by  different  paths.  The 
lessons  taught  by  the  varied  fortunes  of  the  European 
races  in  the  aggregate,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic, 
will  surely  also  be  applicable  to  ourselves.  We  will, 
therefore,  as  soon  as  this  festival  is  over,  try  to  rise  to 
the  wider  point  of  view  offered  by  general  history,  whence 
we  may  gain  a  freer  survey.  And,  in  so  doing,  we  will 
seek,  as  far  as  possible,  to  avoid  opening  afresh  the  yet 
bleeding  wounds  of  our  fatherland,  and  rather  look 
abroad  or  to  ages  long  past  when  we  have  to  characterize 
and  prognosticate  evils  and  dangers. 

We  can  not,  however,  suffer  those  unexampled  words 


64  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

of  the  prelate  to  pass  without  comment.  They  are, 
indeed,  directed  in  the  first  instance  to  the  believers  of 
his  diocese,  and  if  he  chooses  to  treat  them  as  such  god- 
less persons,  we  can  not  deny  him  the  right  to  do  so. 
We  should  certainly  regret  it  deeply,  but  should  neither 
feel  it  our  duty  nor  our  business  to  stand  between  the 
shepherd  and  his  flock.  But  it  is  clear  that  it  is  not  the 
Roman  Catholic  inhabitants  of  this  diocese  nor  our 
Catholic  brethren  in  general,  on  whom  the  Bishop  intends 
his  awful  invectives  to  fall.  They  are  evidently  regarded 
by  him  as  sufferers  under  the  fresh  crucifixion  of  the 
Messiah,  committed  by  their  Protestant  fellow-country- 
men. His  hard  words  are,  therefore,  as  regards  the 
guilt  of  the  transaction  exclusively,  as  regards  the  pun- 
ishment chiefly,  directed  against  us  Protestants;  only 
the  Bishop,  being  a  mild  and  courteous  man,  did  not 
wish  to  say  the  naked  truth  so  directly  in  our  faces. 
God  can  not  possibly  punish  ah  innocent  posterity  still 
more  severely  for  our  sakes  than  the  sinners  and  crimi- 
nals themselves^ — ^for  that  would  be  contrary  to  all  justice, 
human  and  divine.  Our  interpretation  of  his  meaning 
must,  therefore,  be  the  correct  one. 

Now  there  are,  probably,  few,  even  among  the  clergy 
of  the  reverend  prelate,  who  seriously  think  the  German 
nation  a  depraved  one,  and  its  views  of  the  world  un- 
christian and  godless,  compared  to  those  which  prevail 
in  France,  Spain,  and  Italy,  or  believe  that  its  influence 
in  the  world,  since  1517,  has  been  purely  anti- Christian. 
We  will,  therefore,  attribute  its  full  share  to  the  rhetor- 
ical force  of  his  language,  and  the  excitement  of  the 
great  clerical  festival  which  the  Bisliop  had  just  been 
attending  in  Rome.  His  language  is  strong,  but  let  it 
pass  as  an  episcopal  fa(;on  de  parler !  But  when  the 
prelate  says,  in  so  many  words,  that  the  German  nation 


ACCUSATIONS  AGAINST   GERMANY.  55 

has  lost  its  conscience,  we  are  compelled,  by  our  con- 
science, which  commands  us  above  all  things  to  speak 
the  truth,  to  tell  him  with  Christian  freedom,  that  we 
deeply  lament,  for  his  own  sake,  that  he  should  have 
made  such  an  assertion.  It  seems  to  us  more  worthy  of 
an  ignorant  feudalist,  or  an  arrogant  priest,  than  of  a 
man  so  highly  cultivated,  still  less  of  a  Christian  bishop. 
Nay,  it  reminds  us  but  too  strongly  of  those  words  of 
our  Lord,  exhorting  his  hearers  to  beware  of.  the  sin 
against  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  could  not  be  forgiven 
(Matt.  xii.  31,  32),  for  us  to  dwell  on  it  without  a 
shudder.  We  can  only  hope  that  the  Bishop  did  not 
know  what  he  was  saying. 

He  who  denies  all  conscience  to  his  own  nation,  to 
which  he  owes  his  birth  and  mental  culture,  excommu- 
nicates her  from  all  participation  in  the  Spirit  of  God, 
in  so  far  as  she  does  not  think  as  he  does  on  Church 
matters.  And  can  such  an  act  be  committed  by  a 
German  prelate,  casting  his  eye  over  three  centuries, 
at  the  celebration  of  a  German  festival,  on  the  eve  of  a 
great  assembly  of  bishops?  Now  within  these  three 
centuries  (at  least  according  to  the  judgment  of  those 
who  have  not  left  their  consciences  and  their  eyes  under 
the  cupola  of  St.  Peter's,  in  the  crypt  of  the  Apostles), 
German  intellect,  German  integrity,  German  loyalty, 
and  German  thought,  have  more  than  once  enlightened 
and  saved  the  world.  Did  not  the  Bishop  then  feel  a 
shudder  when  he  denied  conscience  and  honor  to  this  his 
nation,  his  home,  his  mother;  when  he  joined  the 
epithet,  murderer  of  the  Messiah,  to  her  name,  forgetting 
that  there  existed  yet  a  Messiah  to  kill — the  body  of 
Christ  in  the  world,  his  Church,  and  the  conscience  of 
its  living  members?  This  Messiah  truly,  as  did  once 
that  divine  Person,  wanders  over  the  earth  in  the  form 


56  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

of  a  servant ;  and  nowhere  more  so  than  in  our  distracted 
fatherland. 

But  just  because  no  one  can  blaspheme  the  Spirit  in 
humanity  without  blaspheming  or  denying  God  himself, 
are  we  bound  to  speak  of  the  children  of  our  common 
mother  with  affection,  and  of  herself  with  reverence; 
and  we  repeat  it,  above  all,  of  such  a  mother  and  such  a 
people,  and  in  such  a  conjuncture  of  our  fiitherland  and 
the  wcarld ! 

Gladly  would  we  find  an  apology  for  the  Bishop  that 
should  mitigate  our  cen&ure  and  our  sorrow,  in  his 
patriotic  anxiety  regarding  our  future  with  reference  to 
the  position  of  foreign  countries ;  but  this  we  are  hon- 
estly unable  to  do,  and  therefore  must  not  attempt  it. 
For  only  too  soon  the  course  of  our  observations  will 
lead  us  to  a  very  remarkable  and  purely  politico-juristic 
production  of  the  same  prelate,  in  which  he  expressly 
calls  upon  the  two  powerful  neighbors  of  Germany, 
France  and  Russia,  to  interfere'  in  our  ecclesiastical  dis- 
putes— namely,  as  guaranties  of  the  Peace  of  Westphalia 
in  1648,  and  of  the  Final  Resolution  of  the  Committee 
of  the  Diet  in  1808.  We  will,  therefore,  leave  the 
Baron  to  defend  his  honor ;  the  Bishop,  his  conscience ; 
and  the  Patriot,  his  German  sentiments — I  do  not  know 
if  I  may  add — the  Subject,  his  oath  of  allegiance — ^for 
it  is  said  that  he  has  never  taken  it — and  seek  for  a 
more  consolatory,  and,  please  Gt)d,  a  more  worthy  and 
Christian  preparation  for  our  festival  than  the  BisHop's 
letter  affords,  while  we  return  to  the  free  air  of  Provi- 
dence and  history,  and  trace  the  fortunes  of  the  race 
from  which  Winfrid  sprang. 

Now  if  we  take  a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  devel- 
opment of  the  human  mind  and  Christian  nations  during 
the  last  eleven  centuries,  the  fact  instantly  arrests  our 


ANGLO-SAXON  RA.CE  AND  FREEDOM.  57 

eye,  that  the  Anglo-Saxon  ra<;e  is  that  which  has  exhib- 
ited the  greatest  amount  of  creative  and  constructive 
energy,  and,  moreover,  in  a  continually  increasing  ratio 
of  importance  to  the  history  of  the  world  at  large.  This 
was  first  exhibited  by  the  West  Frisian  branch  in  the 
free  states  of  Holland ;  and  if  at  first  their  own  institu- 
tions displayed  some  remnants  of  the  spirit  of  religious 
intolerance,  forgetting  that  they  had  revolted  and  com- 
bated against  the  intolerance  of  Spain,  this  blot  was 
gradually  effaced  under  the  influence  of  the  essential 
principles  of  liberty,  so  that  we  see  them  already  in  the 
seventeenth  century  the  first  nation  in  Europe  to  pro- 
claim and  practice  toleration  as  the  principle  of  a  Chris- 
tian State.  Thus  did  they  worthily  atone  before  God 
and  man  for  their  former  violence,  in  which,  however, 
they  no  doubt  rather  saw  the  averting  of  unjustifiable 
attempts  on  the  part  of  foreigners  to  disturb  their  tran- 
quillity, than  a  crime  against  religious  toleration.  But 
this  atonement  was  first  consecrated  as  a  principle  of 
universal  authority  by  their  noble  brethren  in  England 
and  America,  who  established  it  as  a  fundamental  law 
that  the  State  has  no  right  or  power  to  meddle  with 
liberty  of  conscience,  and  thus  uttered  the  most  solemn 
acknowledgment  that  mutual  toleration  is  the  l^rue  and 
only  valid  proof  of  Christian  faith  before  God  and  man. 

Here  we  encounter  some  curious  coincidences  of  time 
and  rax3es.  The  bloody  deed  of  pagan  intolerance  whose 
anniversary  we  this  day  commemorate,  belongs  to  the 
middle  of  the  eighth  century.  Eight  centuries  later,  it 
was  the  Anglo-Saxons  of  England  who  set  bounds  to  the 
atrocious  intolerance  and  persecutions  of  Spain ;  and  it 
must  be  confessed  that  the  intolerance  of  the  Frisians 
was  mere  child's  play  compared  to  the  Spanish  methods 
of  conversion,  and  the  dark  horrors  of  the  Inquisition. 
•  3* 


58  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

And  without  all  question  this  Inquisition,  with  its  racks 
and  its  scaffolds,  had  grown  up  out  of  the  ecclesiastical 
system  of  Boniface.  Long  before  the  Grand  Inquisitor, 
Torquemada,  toward  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
brought  the  Holy  Office  into  Spain,  it  had  been  employed 
from  its  seat  in  Rome  against  the  Albigenses ;  and  Pope 
Paul  IV.  celebrated  the  eight  hundredth  festival  of  St. 
Boniface  with  the  universal  introduction  of  that  fearful 
tribunal.  Was  Germany  in  that  age  less  God-fearing 
than  Spain  with  its  rigid  exclusiveness,  because,  in  1555, 
she  signed  the  Treaty  of  Religious  Peace  at  Augsburg  ? 
Would  this  treaty  itself  have  been  more,  or  less.  Chris- 
tian, and  rich  in  blessing,  if  it  had  conceded  a  larger 
measure  of  freedom  ?  And  is  Spain,  in  the  year  1855, 
more  Christian,  more  moral,  more  happy  than  Germany, 
where,  according  to  the  expression  of  the  Curia,  "here- 
sies rage  unpunished?" 

It  was  thirty-three  years  later,  in  the  summer  of 
1588,  that  the  English  Anglo-Saxons  saved  the  mental 
and  political  freedom  of  Europe,  and  the  honor  of 
Christendom,  by  repulsing  from  her  shores  the  vaunted 
giant  fleet  of  Spain,  and  rendering  it  possible  for  the 
hardly-pressed  West  Frisians  victoriously  to  achieve 
their  liberation  from  the  Spanish  yoke.  Just  one 
century  after,  in  the  year  1688,  the  same  Anglo- 
Saxons  raised  the  principle  of  religious  liberty  into 
a  fundamental  law  of  England,  when  they  put  an  end 
to  ecclesiastical  domination  by  the  expulsion  of  the 
Stuarts,  who  forgot  their  oaths  and  their  national  his- 
tory. 

It  was  a  great  prince  of  these  same  West  Frisians 
who  naturalized  on  English  soil  the  religious  freedom 
already  successfully  conquered  by  the  Dutch.  But 
already,  during  the  contest  with  the  Stuarts,  English 


THE  GERMAN  SPIRIT  PROG-RESSIVE.  59 

heroes  of  the  Spirit,  themselves  martyrs  of  religious 
intolerance,  had,  as  Pilgrim  Fathers  and  Apostles,  laid 
the  foundation  of  that  mighty  empire  beyond  the  Atlan- 
tic which  eighty  years  singe,  on  the  declaration  of  its 
independence,  proclaimed  the  principle  of  religious 
liberty,  no  longer  of  mere  toleration. 

As  regards  Germany,  I  will  not  here  inquire  whether 
Protestant  or  Catholic  Germany  has  gained  more  by  the 
religious  toleration  demanded  and  asserted  as  a  principle 
by  the  Reftrmers.  All  German  hearts  agree  in  this, 
that  we  have  all  suffered  from  intolerance ;  not  only 
politically  by  the  impeding  of  the  free  development  of 
Germany,  but  also  in  religion.  Of  all  nations,  the 
Germans  are  those  whom  it  will  be  the  hardest  to  per- 
suade, that  the  religious  conviction  of  an  individual,  or 
a  congregation,  or  a  country,  ought  to  be,  or  can  be 
effectually,  changed  by  force.  This  is  an  article  of 
faith  wherever  a  German  heart  beats.  Nor  will  the 
Germans,  with  their  inborn  faith  and  humanity  and 
providence,  ever  hear  those  thinkers  and  legislators,  who 
in  the  last  century  labored  for  toleration  and  freedom 
of  conscience,  spoken  lightly  of  without  indignation, 
still  less  reviled  as  godless.  Last  of  all  will  the  German 
people  acknowledge  itself  as  deserving  censure,  or  even 
punishment,  because  it  honestly  entertains  sentiments  of 
toleration  ;  for  it  is  by  nature  the  most  inwardly  relig- 
ious of  all  nations,  and,  therefore,  the  one  which  most 
reverences  the  voice  of  conscience  in  matters  of  belief. 
It  is  the  German  spirit  which  breathes  in  energetic 
Scandinavia,  as  in  Holland  and  in  Switzerland.  It  is 
this  spirit  which  in  the  Romanic,  Celtic,  and  Slavic 
populations  and  States,  manifests  itself  as  the  element 
of  progress  and  civilization ;  and  never  with  mightier 
energy  than  since  the  great  spiritual  upheaving  of  the 


60  SIONS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

sixteenth  century,  and  nowhere  with  more  of  creative 
and  conservative  power  than  in  the  races  which  shared 
in  that  movement. 

How  should  this  spirit  be  utterly  extinguished  in 
its  great  home  in  Germany,  notwithstanding  all  our 
political  disadvantages  and  heavy  calamities  ?  But  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  know,  and  say,  the  contrary. 

The  sorrowful  and  anxious  question  is  only,  how  the 
successor  of  St.  Boniface  has  arrived  at  so  gloomy  and 
untenable  a  view  of  the  world,  and  grasps  it  with  so 
firm  a  conviction,  that  he  has  felt  himself  impelled  to 
seize  this  moment  to  hold  up  with  such  solemnity  the 
distorted  image  reflected  by  his  concave  mirror,  before 
the  eyes  of  his  nation  and  the  world?  Was  there 
really  no  other  mode  of  convincing  us,  or  even  his 
believing  flock,  of  his  apostolic  faith  and  episcopal 
wisdom  ? 

Perhaps  we  shall  be  assisted  to  an  explanation  of  this 
phenomenon  by  the  subject  of  our  meditation  on  to- 
morrow's festival,  namely,  St.  Boniface  and  his  work. 
We  will  set  his  picture  in  the  historical  framework  that 
it  deserves — that  is,  endeavor  duly  to  point  out  that 
great  man's  place  in  the  history  of  the  world  ;  namely, 
between  his  forerunners,  the  earlier  apostles  of  the 
Christian  faith  among  the  German  tribes,  and  his  epis- 
copal successors.  And  this  will  lead  us  immediately  to 
the  men  and  the  questions  of  the  present  day.  What  I 
have  said  is  enough  for  the  eve  of  the  eleventh  centenary 
festival. 


LETTER   III. 


AND   SUCCESSORS. 


Charlottenberg,  June  5th,  1855. 

On  the  Festival  of  St.  Boniface. 

This  day,  then,  my  dear  friend,  is  celebrated  the 
centenary  festival  of  the  martyrdom  of  Winfrid,  com- 
monly called  St.  Boniface.  Exactly  eleven  hundred 
years  have  elapsed  since  that  day,  immediately  following 
the  feast  of  Whitsuntide  in  the  year  A.  D.  755,  when 
the  Frisians  murdered  the  Anglo-Saxon  missionary  and 
legate  of  Rome  on  his  entrance  into  their  country. 
Scarcely  can  one  of  the  former  centenary  festivals  have 
been  announced  with  such  pomp  of  preparation,  or  in  so 
brilliant  an  assemblage  of  prelates.  The  summons  to 
its  celebration  rings  through  the  whole  land ;  a  papal 
legate,  several  foreign  bishops,  and  a  large  number  of 
ecclesiastics,  have  met  *in  Fulda  and  Mayence ;  solemn 
processions  and  a  fortnight's  festival  are  proclaimed,  and 
tracts  for  the  occasion  are  disseminated  among  the 
people. 

The  earnest  observer  of  the  affairs  of  the  German 
nation,  and  of  the  present  crisis  in  history,  can  not  but 
be  struck,  while  contemplating  the  labors  and  death  of 
Boniface  and  this  festival  in  his  honor,  by  two  trains  of 
thought,  both  of  world-wide  significance.  The  subject 
of  the  one  is  the  unchristian  and  inhuman  nature  of  all 


62  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

religious  intolerance  and  persecution.  The  other  will 
lead  him  to  consider  the  pretensions  of  the  Church  ;  or 
the  claims  of  the  hierarchy  on  the  individual,  the  nation, 
the  State,  and  mankind.  And  thus  you  see,  dear  friend, 
we  find  ourselves  at  once  in  the  midst  of  those  ages 
which  we  at  first  passed  by,  and  yet  no  less  in  the  im- 
mediate present. 

The  deed  of  the  West  Frisians  was  an  outbreak  of 
barbarism  against  intrusive  foreigners  ;  but  it  was, 
nevertheless,  a  murder  prompted  by  intolerance  and 
religious  hatred.  Undoubtedly  the  Romish  legate,  and 
Archbishop  of  Mayence,  entered  upon  his  missionary 
travels  with  an  unusually  numerous  and  not  unarmed 
suite  :  fifty-two  persons  are  mentioned  as  having  fallen 
with  him,  whom  he  had  forbidden  to  defend  him  and 
themselves.  Evidently  there  was  in  the  country  a 
powerful  Christian  party  with  which  he  stood  in  connec- 
tion ;  the  same  which  shortly  afterward  took  a  bloody 
revenge  for  his  death.  It  was  the  members  of  this  party 
whom  he  was  awaiting  in  the  tents  which  he  had  erected 
at  -Dokkum,  in  Holland,  on  the  river  forming  the 
boundary  between  East  and  West  Friesland.  On 
Trinity  Sunday,  the  neophytes  were  to  be  confirmed, 
and  accompany  him  into  the  country  on  the  opposite 
bank.  But  up  to  this  point,  as  far  as  we  know,  no  act 
of  violence  had  been  committed  in  the  country  by  him 
or  his  followers.  His  power  and  influence  were  certainly 
of  a  spiritual  nature  ;  and  with  spiritual  and  legal 
weapons  alone  could  and  ought  he  to  have  been  com- 
bated. But  the  heathen  party  regarded  him  as  a  con- 
temner of  their  gods,  and  a  foe  to  their  national  cus- 
toms, and  determined  to  prevent  his  entrance  into  their 
country.  Thus  he  was  attacked  by  their  host,  and 
unresistingly  suiFered  himself  and  his  train  to  be  slain. 


THE  APOSTLE  OF  GERMANY.  63 

holding  the  gospels  in  his  hands,  above  his  head,  as  he 
fell. 

St.  Boniface  is  called  the  apostle  of  the  Germans. 
But  the  judicious  historical  researches  of  Neander  and 
Rettberg  have  brought  more  clearly  to  light  than  had 
ever  been  done  before,  the  same  fact  on  which  Bishop 
Ketteler  of  Mayenice,  and  Professor  Leo  of  Halle,  with 
their  disciples  and  adherents,  proudly  dwell  as  the  seal 
of  his  aspirations  and  his  work.  Boniface  was  not  so 
much  the  preacher  of  the  Gospel  as  of  the  Church ;  he 
labored  chiefly  where  Christianity  already  existed:  he 
ought  to  be  called,  not  so  much  the  apostle  of  Germany 
as  the  missionary  of  Rome,  whence  he  was  sent  forth 
furnished  with  extraordinary  powers.  To  the  one  party 
this  is  a  defect  and  a  reproach ;  to  the  other  his  highest 
glory :  the  fact  is  undisputed. 

Let  us  now  inquire  of  history  what  is  the  truth  as  to 
the  church-system  of  Boniface. 

From  our  point  of  view — that  is,  from  the  ground  of 
historical  fact — I  think  no  one  has  pronounced  a  more 
moderate  judgment  on  Boniface  than  Neander  has  done, 
in  his  Church  History,  and  again,  more  fully,  in  his 
Ecclesiastical  Memorabilia.  In  the  latter  work  he  says, 
in  the  Essay  on  Boniface  (vol.  iii.,  p.  259)  : 

"  The  dark  side  of  the  ministry  of  Boniface  was,  that  he  did 
not  know,  in  its  full  extent,  the  freedom  of  the  cliildren  of  God, 
who  have  died  with  Christ  to  the  ordinances  of  the  world ;  whose 
life,  being  no  more  of  this  world,  but  hid  with  Christ  in  God,  and 
belonging  to  heaven,  ought  not,  therefore,  to  be  brought  into 
bondage  by  the  ordinances  of  this  world.  He  knew,  it  is  true, 
the  fundamental  principle  of  inward  Christianity,  and  possessed  it 
in  his  own  inward  life  :  he  possessed  it,  indeed,  all  the  more,  be- 
cause his  powers  of  reasoning  out  the  Church  principles  he  held, 
were  not  equally  developed  with  the  Christianity  that  lived  in  his 
soul.    But,  with  this  inward  Christianity,  he  still  combined  a  cer- 


64  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

tain  clinging  to  outward  things  which  is  altogether  foreign  to  it. 
He  did,  indeed,  build  on  that  foundation  wliich  is  Christ — and 
hence  his  work  could  not  but  stand  as  of  God,  and  grow  in  suc- 
ceeding centuries  by  the  Divine  power  that  was  in  it — but  he  did 
not  build  on  this  foundation  pure  gold,  but  wood,  hay,  and  stub- 
ble. And  here  it  must  be  said  to  his  excuse,  that  he  was  not  the 
author  of  this  confusion,  but  that  he  found  it  already  existing  in 
his  age." 

Neander  and  Rettberg  seem  to  me  to  have  treated  the 
most  impartially  of  Boniface  and  his  work,  and  mutu- 
ally to  supply  each  other's  deficiencies.  While  Rett- 
berg, by  a  wise  criticism  in  his  documentary  history  of 
the  difiusion  of  Christianity  in  Germany,  has  thrown 
light  on  the  outward  history  of  this  active  and  energetic 
man,  and  on  the  institutions  that  he  founded — confuting 
at  the  same  time,  forever,  with  equal  earnestness  and 
sagacity,  unjust  suspicions  and  accusations  against  his 
character — Neander  enters  more  into  the  theological 
and  apostolic  side  of  his  ministry.  He  dwells,  with, 
perhaps,  greater  affection  than  any  previous  historian, 
on  what  was  worthy  of  esteem  and  honor  as  a  Christian 
and  a  man  in  the  character  of  Boniface.  True,  he  can 
scarcely  adduce  from  his  letters  and  writings  one  prin- 
ciple of  Christian  wisdom  for  the  spiritual  life  of  man, 
nor  one  sentence  that  would  discover  a  deep  apprehen- 
sion of  the  Gospel  in  its  bearing  on  the  relation  of  the 
soul  to  God  and  Christ.  The  predominant  element 
throughout  his  writings,  as  in  his  life  and  ministry,  is  a 
strong  belief  in  the  right  of  priestly  dominion  over  con- 
sciences and  nations,  and  a  Jewish  rather  than  Chris- 
tian scrupulosity  about  outward  forms.  Neander  takes 
the  more  pleasure  in  being  able  to  point  out  the  exam- 
ples of  Christian  liberality  and  deep  moral  earnestness 
which  Boniface  gave  in  his  acts. 

At  the  present  day  we  may  smile  at  his  inquiring 


CHAEACTER  OF  BONIFACE.  65 

jfrom  Rome,  whether  his  converts  might  eat  horse-flesh 
(which  the  J  were  evidently  in  the  habit  of  doing),  and 
whether,  and  under  what  form,  they  might  partake  of 
raw  bacon;,  in  which  case,  Rome's  decision  against 
horse-flesh,  and  recommendation  of  ham,  were  undoubt- 
edly judicious.  But  Winfrid  was  not  thus  timorous 
and  helpless,  where  it  was  a  question  of  truth  and  mor- 
als within  his  own  sphere.  He  did  not  conceal  from  the 
Pope  that  the  pilgrims  who  returned  from  Rome  justi- 
fied many  offenses  against  morality  and  Christian  dis- 
cipline by  what  they  had  witnessed  in  Rome  itself  and 
its  neighborhood,  particularly  on  New  Year's  Eve ;  and 
he  urgently  recommends  the  Holy  Father  to  abolish 
such  remains  of  heathen  abominations  within  his  own 
diocese,  in  order  to  do  away  with  this  cause  of  stum- 
bling. His  method  of  proselytism  is  certainly  chiefly 
remarkable  for  its  political  sagacity,  practical  energy, 
and  a  zealous  determination  to  break  down,  once  for  all, 
the  resistance  of  the  nation  at  large.  But  he  frankly 
censures  the  rapacity  of  the  Roman  Curia,  which  ex- 
acted so  high  a  price  for  the  archi-episcopal  pallia,  that 
many  begged  to  be  excused  this  honor,  though,  prob- 
ably, they  also  did  not  wish  to  obtain  the  metropolitan 
dignity  as  a  fief  from  Rome.  He  never  ceases  to  com- 
plain on  this  subject  even  after  the  Pope  had  commanded 
him  to  keep  silence  on  so  tender  a  point.  Though  him- 
self the  Pope's  legate,  yet  when  Zacharias,  the  successor 
to  Gregory  IH.,  during  his  residence  in  those  parts 
consecrated  Chrodegang  to  the  bishopric  of  Metz,  he 
blames  him  for  this  invasion  of  the  rights  of  Chrode- 
gang's  metropolitan,  the  Archbishop  of  Treves ;  and  it 
needs  the  mediation  of  Pepin  to  put  an  end  to  the  dis- 
pute. Fmally,  Rettberg  has  rendered  it  extremely 
probable,  that  Boniface  by  no  means  sought,  as  Schmidt 


66  SIGNS  OF  THK   TIMES. 

maintains,  the  deposition  of  the  Merovingians ;  but  ra- 
ther excited  the  anger  of  the  Pope  bj  his  protests 
against  the  act. 

But  one  stain  can  not  be  washed  out  froiji  his  charac- 
ter— that  of  religious  persecution  and  hierarchical  ex- 
clusiveness.  It  is  undeniable  that  Boniface,  bj  the  help 
of  the  temporal  power,  managed  to  rid  himself  of  all  his 
opponents  and  rivals  in  the  missionary  field,  and  in  par- 
ticular of  one  who  was  evidently  a  very  distinguished 
British  missionary  and  bishop.  So  effectually  did  Boni- 
face silence  Clemens  that  the  latter  disappears  without 
a  trace.  Still  his  method  of  proselytism,  taken  on  the 
whole,  was  a  spiritual  one,  and  truly  excellent  in  com- 
parison with  the  baptisms  by  masses,  and  deeds  of  vio- 
lence, by  which,  thirty  years  later,  Charlemagne  carried 
on  the  work  of  conversion  among  our  Saxon  forefathers. 
Professor  Leo  does  indeed  try  to  justify  Charlemagne 
by  allusion  to  the  "human  sacrifices"  of  the  Saxons: 
that  is,  they  sacrificed  single  prisoners,  while  Charle- 
magne caused  four  thousand  to  be  massacred  at  once. 
But  this  account  belongs  to  the  same  dramatic  romance 
which  ascribes  the  conversion  of  Germany  to  Gregory's 
walk  "on  the  Koman  forum,"  through  the  medium  of 
England,  whose  offspring,  Winfrid,  "begot  us,"  and 
brought  into  existence  our  historical  Germany.  Nay, 
the  history  of  this  metropolitan  see,  the  diocese  of  May- 
ence,  manifests  an  extraordinary  and  more  than  patri- 
archal power  of  generation  in  that  hereditary  statesman- 
ship of  the  Electors  of  Mayence,  who,  by  their  counsels 
as  Arch-Chancellors  of  the  Holy  Roman  empire,  have 
added  so  much  to  the  happiness  and  glory  of  Germany. 
Historical  criticism  can  not,  however,  recognize  such 
romances,  except  as  pathological  phenomena ;  just  as 
gifted  scholars  have  treated  similar  romances  in  ancient 


HIS  PREDECESSORS.  67 

history.  We  may  certainly  hope  that  these  paradoxes 
are  not  uttered  in  earnest,  but  that  the  author  is  only 
wishing  to  have  a  laugh  against  his  hearers  and  readers. 

On  the  contrary,  history  informs  us  that  before  Boni- 
face— with  whom  Professor  Leo  begins  the  history  of 
Germany,  passing  over  Arminius  in  silence — the  pros- 
pects of  the  Gospel  in  our  country  were  by  no  means- dis- 
couraging. We  certainly  had  no  powerful  Church,  but 
we  had  a  free  and  spiritual  Christianity.  Though  Ne- 
ander  says  that  Boniface  found  the  confusion  between 
externals  and  the  inner  principle — the  Christian  life  in 
the  soul  and  the  Church  organization — already  existing 
in  his  age,  we  must  rather  agree  on  this  point  with  Win- 
frid's  present  ecclesiastical  panegyrists,  who — as,  for  in- 
stance, Leo,  the  Protestant  (?)  eulogist  of  the  hierarchy 
— regard  the  circumstance  which  Neander  laments,  as 
the  highest  merit  and  greatest  glory  of  the  martyr. 

We  say  with  them :  Boniface  was  not  the  apostle  of 
Christianity  in  Germany,  but  of  the  Church,  that  is  of 
the  Romish  hierarchy.  Boniface  was^  the  missionary  of 
Rome,  and  preached  the  supremacy  of  its  pontiff  with 
the  necessity  of  setting  aside  all  those  who  thought 
otherwise.  Whether  this  was  as  great  a  blessing  as 
Professor  Leo  would  make  us  believe,  still  remains  a 
question. 

A  glance  on  the  predecessors  of  Boniface  in  Germany 
will  give  us  somewhat  more  light  on  this  point. 

Christianity  in  Germany  dates  from  primitive  times, 
and  came  to  our  forefathers,  no  less  than  to  the  Romans, 
from  the  East.  Asia  Minor  was  its  cradle ;  and,  later, 
our  pole-star  was  Byzantium,  not  Rome.  One  great 
and  noble  Teutonic  race,  the  Goths,  had  already  volun- 
tarily embraced  Christianity,  at  a  time  when,  according 
to  the  unimpeachable  testimony  of  their  cotemporary, 


6B  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Prudentius,  more  than  half  of  the  great  families  and  the 
wealthy  and  cultivated  classes  of  Rome  were  still  living, 
almost  without  an  exception,  in  heathenism. 

The  Bishop  Theophilus  who  sat  in  the  Council  of 
Nice  for  the  metropolitan  see  of  the  Goths,  lying  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Danube  in  Eastern  Wallachia,  may 
probably  have  been  rather  a  missionary  than  a  national 
prelate.  But  the  Goths,  as  Commodian  (in  spite  of 
Kraflft's  apparent  refutation*)  had  prophetically  ob- 
served as  early  as  the  third  century,  had  nothing  in 
their  character  or  customs  hostile  to  Christianity. 
Ulphilas,  who  was  born  among  the  Goths,  but  was  the 
son  of  a  Catholic  priest  of  Cappadocia  who  had  been  led 
away  captive  into  their  country,  was  the  first  and  great- 
est apostle  of  the  Germans.  He  was  a  somewhat 
younger  cotemporary  of  Athanasius.  At  the  age  of 
thirty  he  was  made  a  bishop,  A.  D.  348,  a  dignity  whose 
possessor  was  called  by  the  Goths  presbyter  or  elder, 
according  to  the  primitive  custom,  which  may  be  still 
shown  to  exist,  at  that  period,  in  many  places  beside 
Asia  Minor.  In  order  that  his  people  might  be  able  to 
read  the  Word  of  God  to  man,  this  great  apostle  in- 
vented the  Gothic  alphabet,  which  he  borrowed  chiefly 
from  the  Greek,  also  availing  himself  of  the  Latin  al- 
phabet and  the  Runes ;  and  about  A.  D.  370 — therefore 
nearly  fifteen  hundred  years  ago — he  translated  the 
whole  Bible,  except  the  books  of  Kings,  from  the  Greek 
into  his  own  noble  language — a  language  that  owns  the 
same  ancient  origin  with,  and  is  the  most  closely  allied 
to  their  primitive  tongue. 

It  is  true  he  declared  himself  in  favor  of  the  Synod 
of  Ariminum,   and,  therefore,  with  the  Patriarch  of 

*  Krafil.  Die  Kirchehgeschichte  des  Germanischen  Volks., 
Bd.  i.,  Abth.  1,  1854,  s.  3. 


GOTHIC   CHRISTIANITY.  69 

Constantinople  and  Yalens,  against  Athanasius ;  but  he 
did  it  certainly  not  to  court  the  higher  powers,  but  from 
that  deep  conviction  which  he  expressed  to  his  people, 
and  which  was  accepted  by  them  in  perfect  faith.  His 
memorable  saying  was,  "that  the  dispute  concerning 
the  dogma  of  Athanasius  was  not  a  matter  touching  the 
essentials  of  religion,  but  the  ambition  of  the  bishops. '^ 
His  theological  confession  of  faith,  which  was  discovered 
a  few  years  ago  in  a  nearly  cotemporaneous  manuscript 
by  Waitz,*  is  neither  Arian  nor  Athanasian.  In  it, 
.Ulphilas  abides  by  the  decision  of  the  Council  of  Con- 
stantinople in  the  year  360,  which  confirmed  the  de- 
cision of  the  Synod  of  Rimini,  with  the  addition,  that 
the  word  "  Ousia,"  which  was  used  by  both  parties, 
ought  not  henceforth  to  be  employed  in  theological 
treatises  on  the  divine  nature  in  God  and  Christ,  be- 
cause it  was  no  more  a  scriptural  term  than  the  word, 
"Hypostasis."  Ulphilas  then  brings  forward  his  own 
theory.  In  it  I  do  not,  like  Krafft,  see  the  influence  of 
a  real  or  supposed  Gothic  mythology,  but  rather  a  train 
of  speculation,  awakened  by  Ennodius  and  the  theology 
which  the  father  Ulphilas  brought  from  Asia  Minor. 
It  is  essentially  monotheistic  in  principle,  or  Monarch- 
ian ;  yet  it  would  not  be  difficult  for  a  theological  oppo- 
nent to  accuse  it  of  Tritheism.  We  will  further  re- 
mark that  he  is  far  from  giving  out  his  system  as  a  rule 
of  faith ;  he  puts  it  forward  only  as  a  view  of  the  the- 
ological schools;  the  customary  mode  of  propounding 
their  systems  among  the  elder  fathers  of  the  Church. 

The  Goths  followed  his  view,  and  declared  against 
Athanasius.  With  regard  to  the  Arianism  of  the  Goths 
and  of  all  the  German  races,  with  the  one  exception  of 
the  Franks,  an  acute  and  profoundly  learned  historian, 

*  Waitz.    Ueber  das  Leben  und  die  Lehre  des  Ulfila  (1852).  • 


70  SIGNS  OF   THE   TIMES. 

Gieseler,  has  very  correctly  remarked,  that  it  sprang  less 
from  any  enthusiasm  for  the  Arian  formula,  than  from 
the  disinclination  of  the  Germans  to  look  for  the  truth 
in  any,  even  theological  disputes,  among  the  Romans.* 
They  thought,  no  doubt,  that  that  principle  could  not 
possibly  be  the  right  one,  which  was  preached  by  those 
whom  they  knew  and  abhorred,  in  practical  life,  as  false 
and  treacherous.  Thus  they  took  part  with  those  bish- 
ops who  declared  against  Athanasius,  and  who,  for  a 
time,  formed  the  majority. 

However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  we  owe  to  this 
Gothic  Christianity,  which  was  kindled  by  the  Greek 
Church,  the  most  ancient  translation  of  the  Bible  into  a 
popular  European  language — a  work  which  is  a  mas- 
terpiece in  its  class,  and  an  imperishable  glory  of  our 
people  and  tongue.  The  Latin  version  of  St.  Jerome 
is  a  translation  into  a  dying  language,  and  dates,  more- 
over, half  a  century  later;  the  earlier  Latin  version, 
the  Itala,  is  older,  but  had  its  source  in  Africa,  and  the 
conjecture  that  it  was  known  to  Ulphilas,  as  some  would 
now  imagine,  is  altogether  without  foundation.  Ulphi- 
las's  translation  has  faults  and  mistakes,  but  they  are  all 
to  be  explained  from  the  original  Greek  text  before  him. 
This  form  of  Christianity  produced,  among  other  great 
men,  the  noblest  of  our  Christian  heroes — at  once  the 
most  German  and  patriotic  in  heart,  and  the  only  good 
ruler  and  true  benefactor  of  Italy  during  those  evil  cen- 
turies— Theodoric,  the  elder  Dietrich  of  Berne  of  the 
Niebelungen  Lay.  True,  at  the  instigation  of  the  or- 
thodox priesthood,  the  ashes  of  the  king  were  taken, 
soon  after  his  death,  from  their  resting-place,  and  scat- 
tered to  the  winds  as  those  of  an  accursed  heretic ;  but 
even  his  empty  mausoleum  is  a  speaking  monument,  and 
*  Grieseler.     Kirchengeschichte,  ii.  1. 


C0LUMBAN  AND   GALLUS.  71- 

the  fame  of  the  hero  still  lives  in  song,  and  in  the  grate- 
ful memory  of  the  people. 

But  we  will  as  little  join  with  Leo  and  Ketteler  to 
forget  the  thoroughly  orthodox  British  apostles  of  Ger- 
many and  their  disciples  and  successors,  as  we  will  con- 
sent to  disown  Ulphilas  and  Theodoric.  It  is  true  that 
these  Apostles,  like  Boniface,  gave  us  no  national 
Bible;  like  him,  too,  they  formed  for  us  no  true 
national  State;  but  they  did  preach  a  far  freer  and 
more  spiritual  faith — a  faith,  according  to  the  testimony 
of  history,  akin  to  that  of  the  ancient  church.  Unfor- 
tunately we  know  but  little  of  the  personal  characters 
and  history  of  the  two  British  missionaries  with  whom 
we  are  most  nearly  concerned — Kilian  and  Fridolin; 
but  we  know  the  school  to  which  they  belonged,  and  we 
know  still  more  of  the  heads  of  that  school,  Columban 
and  his  disciple  Gallus,  both  of  whom  may  themselves 
be  counted  among  our  apostles ;  the  former  being  the 
apostle  of  the  Burgundians  among  the  Vosges,  the  lat- 
ter of  the  Swiss.  Both  preached  the  Gospel  in  the 
German  language  with  great  success,  from  a  hundred 
and  fiffcy  to  a  hundred  years  before  Winfrid.  Colum- 
ban himself  was  a  follower  of  the  inspired  apostle  of 
Ireland,  St.  Patrick.  In  him,  and  in  the  whole  of 
this  British  school,  breathes  the  free  spirit  of  that 
Celtic  Christianity  of  Southern  France,  of  which  Iren- 
aeus  of  Lyons  is  the  representative  and  patriarch — that 
Irenaeus  who  was,  again,  the  disciple  of  Polycarp  of 
Smyrna,  a  follower  of  the  teachings  of  St.  John,  and 
the  champion  of  the  liberties  of  individual  congregations 
against  Rome,  in  the  great  dispute  concerning  the  time 
of  Easter. 

Like  Irenaeus,  Columban  combated  the  claims  of  the 
Bishops  of  Rome  to  make  decisions  for  the  whole  of 


.72  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Christendom,  and  this  in  the  times  of  a  Gregory  the 
Great.  Holding  fast,  as  Irenaeus  did,  to  the  more  an- 
cient custom  concerning  the  feast  of  Easter,  he  says, 
with  reference  to  it : 

'"  The  same  has  been  also  said  by  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  Victor, 
but  none  of  the  Oriental  bishops  received  this  figment  of  his 
brain.  What  a  crude  and  careless  decision !  for  it  rests  on  no 
testimony  of  Holy  Scripture."* 

Thus,  the  Scriptures  are  to  him  the  highest  rule  of 
faith,  and  the  freedom  of  the  individual  churches  is  the 
first  principle  of  his  Catholic  wisdom. 

Nay,  even  in  the  days  of  Boniface  and  later,  there 
were  not  wanting  worthy  representatives  of  this  more 
liberal  British  school,  which  once  in  Anglo-Saxon  En- 
gland came  into  collision  with  the  Romish  emissary,  the 
monk  Augustine,  in  the  person  of  the  Abbot  of  Bangor. 
We  know  the  British  bishop  Clemens,  who  was  also  a 
preacher  of  the  Gospel  in  Germany,  and  is  so  bitterly 
denounced  by  Boniface,  only  through  the  harsh  and 
evidently  angry  accusations  of  his  zealous  opponent. 
But  according  to  the  representations  of  Boniface  him- 
self, these  accusations,  in  point  of  fact,  may  be  reduced 
to  the  following : 

First — Clemens  lived  in  matrimony,  and  had  two  sons 
after  he  became  a  bishop.  Now  it  is  well  known  that 
the  marriage  of  the  priests  was  permitted  both  by  law 
and  custom  in  the  British  Church,  and  long  after,  in 
the  Anglo-Saxon.  That  prohibitions  of  second  mar- 
riages occur  in  very  early  times  (according  to  the  celcr 
brated  passage,  1  Tim.,  iii.  2),  proves  of  itself  that 
first  marriages  were  considered  unobjectionable.  It  is 
not  quite  just  in  Boniface,  therefore,  to  call  this  relation 

*  Neander.    Denkw.  iii.,  222. 


THEOLOGY  OF  CLEMENS.  73 

adultery  (i.  e.,  fornication)  ;  for  it  was  not  such  to 
Clemens  or  his  Church,  any  more  than  the  primitive 
Christians. 

Secondly — He  did  not  hold  marriage  with  a  deceased 
wife's  sister  to  be  divinely  prohibited — a  view  which  is 
shared  by  many  of  the  ancient  fathers,  which  evidently 
has  the  sanction  of  the  Mosaic  Law,  and  is  now  no 
longer  regarded  by  the  Pope  himself  as  contrary  to  the 
divine  commandments. 

Finally — According  to  the  statement  of  Boniface, 
Clemens  believed  that  Christ,  on  his  descent  into  hell, 
may  have  proclaimed  the  Gospel  of  salvation  to  the 
heathen,  and  thus  redeemed  them ;  which  is  simply  a 
philosophic  and  theological  interpretation  of  that  obscure 
passage  in  the  First  Epistle  of  Peter,  concerning  which 
the  ancient  Church  knew  no  more  than  we  do,  and  on 
which  the  fathers  are  known  to  have  held  the  most  dif- 
fering views.  But  this  very  opinion  found  no  insignifi- 
cant advocates  in  Clemens'  great  namesake  of  Alexandria, 
and  the  early  Alexandrian  fathers.  Neander  thinks 
that  Clemens  the  Briton  may,  perhaps,  have  gone  so 
far  as  to  question  whether  all  the  latter  heathen  were 
lost  forever,  though  Christ  had  not  been  preached  to 
them.*  But  even  if  Clemens  (as  Neander  supposes) 
should  have  held  the  possibility  of  a  final  restoration  of 
all  souls — as  many  fathers  believed  before  him,  and  the 
great  Briton,  John  Scotus  Erigena,  certainly  did  a  cen- 
tury later — this  would  have  constituted  no  crime  or 
heresy  in  the  eyes  of  the  British  Church,  whose  bishop 
he  was,  or  in  those  of  the  primitive  Christians. 

Probably,  too,  Boniface  may  not  have  been  satisfied 
with  the  validity  of  the  British  episcopal  ordination ; 
for  the  abbots  of  those  ancient  British  monasteries  which 
*  Denliw.  iii.  264,  Anm. 


74  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

sent  out  so  many  missionaries,  used  to  consecrate  bishops, 
without  being  bishops  themselves.  But  had  he  been 
heard,  Clemens  could  have  defended  his  Church  and 
himself  for  this  practice,  as  well  as  St.  Patrick,  Colum- 
ban,  and  Gallus. 

What  we  do  know  is,  that  he  was  condemned  by  Rome 
unheard,  on  the  accusation  of  Boniface.  Doubtless, 
therefore,  Neander's  comparative  judgment  on  the  two 
is  very  just,  when  he  says : 

"In  true  knowledge  of  Christianity,  Clemens  was  probably 
superior  to  Boniface,  and  how  much  good  might  he  not  have 
wrought,  if,  uniting  to  this  freer  insight  the  spirit  of  love  and 
wisdom,  he  had  built  up  the  German  church,  from  the  first,  on 
this  foundation — that  the  only  source  of  the  true  knowledge  of 
the  Christian  faith  is  Holy  Scripture  as  interpreted  by  itselfl 
What  widely  diflferent  fruits  would  Christianity  have  borne,  thus 
received  at  once  in  its  purity  !"* 

In  all  this  we  fully  coincide  with  Neander's  verdict. 
But  the  difference  between  Boniface  and  his  predeces- 
sors, and  in  general  between  the  Church  system  which 
he  preached  and  the  Christianity  of  the  earlier  church 
whose  relics  and  ruins  he  found  existing  around  him, 
did  not  lie  simply  in  theological  definitions,  as  we  might 
suppose  from  Neander's  representation.  It  was  not 
merely  a  difference  and  a  conflict  in  the  field  of  thought ; 
it  had  to  do  with  the  real  world  and  its  government.  The 
struggle  of  the  hierarchy  for  dominion  is  always  the 
same  in  principle,  and  does  but  assume  varying  forms 
according  to  the  varying  position  of  the  individual  to  the 
congregation  and  the  State,  and  the  relation  of  these  to 
each  other  and  to  the  clergy. 

The  great  points  on  which  we  must  here  fix  our  at- 
tention, are  the  election  or  nomination  of  bishops,  and 

♦  Denkw.  S.  263. 


ELECTION   OF  BISHOPS.  75 

legislation  on  the  points  of  collision  between  the  State 
and  the  Church.  Of  the  latter,  the  three  most  im- 
portant are — first,  marriage  and  education,  or  the  home 
and  school  ^  secondly,  the  education  and  discipline  of 
the  clergy  and  people ;  and  thirdly,  the  management  of 
the  Church  property.  Let  us  now  inquire,  successively, 
what  position  Boniface  held  with  regard  to  these  three 
questions. 

Until  up  to  the  beginning  of  that  century,  the  bishops 
both  in  the  east  and  the  west,  were  still,  as  a  rule,  chosen 
by  the  people  and  the  parochial  clergy  {a  clero  et  pop- 
tilo),  as  the  canon  law  of  the  Western  Church  still  pre- 
scribes. This  election  was  followed  by  the  recognition 
of  the  metropolitan  Church,  where  one  existed,  or  of  the 
neighboring  bishops.  The  rise  of  spiritual  corporations 
led  to  the  episcopal  ordination  of  missionaries  to  the 
heathen  by  the  abbot  of  the  monastery  which  sent  them 
forth,  the  abbot  himself  however  not  being  a  bishop. 
This  form  wo  find  among  the  British  missionaries. 
When  Christian  governments  and  Christian  corporations 
possessed  of  property  came  into  existence,  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  State  was  added  to  that  of  the  Church.  But 
in  France,  where  the  sovereigns  found  the  episcopacy 
already  existing  as  a  rival  power,  they  claimed  a  larger 
share  of  influence  in  the  episcopal  elections — nay,  aimed 
at  securing  to  themselves  the  whole  right  of  appoint- 
ment.* 

So  long  as  the  bishops  all  sprang  from  the  Romano- 
Celtic  population,  the  old  canonical  form  was  maintained, 
and  the  Gallic  Synods  fought  bravely  for  their  ancient 
rights  and  liberties.  But  when  Franks  entered  the  ranks 
of  the  clergy,  and  important  estates  came  into  the  pos- 

*  With  regard  to  the  following  pages,  consult  the  sources 
indicated  by  Rettberg,  vol.  ii.,  p.  604. 


76  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

session  of  the  Church,  the  relation  existing  among  the 
followers  of  the  King  was  applied  to  the  bishops ;  the 
King  bestowed  a  bishopric,  as  he  bestowed  a  fief  upon 
the  lay  nobility.  The  Synod  of  Orleans,  a.d.  549, 
decrees  that  the  election  must  have  the  consent  of  the 
King ;  but  the  right  of  election  itself  is  affirmed  by  all 
the  synods  of  this  century.  But  in  the  year  a.d.  614, 
the  decree  of  Clotaire  II..  proclaims  the  right  of  the 
King  to  fill  up  vacant  bishoprics.  With  a  demoralized 
monarchy  and  aristocracy,  like  that  of  the  Franks,  this 
claim  opened  the  door  to  all  manner  of  baseness  and 
simony.  The  same  evil  spread  rapidly  among  the  dukes 
of  the  neighboring  races.  The  example  of  the  Frankish 
kings  was  contagious. 

Boniface  found  things  in  this  state  under  Charles 
Martel.  He  complained  of  the  abuse  that  had  crept  in. 
In  these  appointments  he  very  justly  saw  a  violation  of 
ancient  usage  and  right.  But  of  whose  rights  ?  Accord- 
ing to  the  testimony  of  Scripture  and  the  history  of  the 
primitive  Church,  it  was  a  question  of  the  restoration 
of  the  rights  of  the  congregation  and  the  parochial 
clergy,  who  formed  part  of  the  congregation.  But  this 
was  not  at  all  what  Boniface  desired.  On  the  contrary, 
he  himself,  as  papal  legate,  filled  up  the  vacant  sees. 
Carloman  replied  to  this  proceeding  by  a  simple  repeti- 
tion of  his  appointments,  including  the  papal  appoint- 
ment of  Boniface  himself  as  archbishop.  Charlemagne 
unhesitatingly  followed  on  the  same  path.  Under  Louis 
the  Pious  (81T),  the  right  of  free  election  is  recognized 
for  the  first  time.  But  now  the  chapters  have  taken 
the  place  of  the  parochial  clergy,  while  the  congregation 
as  the  highest  depositary  of  the  rights  of  the  Church 
has  disappeared  altogether.  It  must  have  been  easy  for 
Boniface  to  prove  that  the  claims  of  the  .sovereigns 


THE   CONGREGATION  SET  ASIDE.  77 

were  a  usurpation,  and  to  exhibit  the  acts  of  violence 
which  occurred  in  the  enforcement  of  these  claims,  as  a 
great  wrong.  But  he  did  not  regard  them  as  a  wrong 
done  to  the  congregation,  that  is,  to  the  Christian  people, 
but  as  a  wrong  to  the  Church,  that  is,  to  the  ruling 
priesthood.  This  priesthood,  however,  culminates  in 
xthe  Metropolitan ;  but  disputes  in  this  sphere  must  be 
ultimately  decided  by  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  the 
Bishop  of  Rome,  from  whom  he  holds  his  archbishopric 
in  a  foreign  country  as  a  fief 

Whenever  in  matters  of  opinion  and  religious  belief 
one  despotism  is  ranged  against  another,  the  spiritual 
despotism  is  certain  to  maintain  a  superiority  over  its 
secular  rival,  at  least  among  all  noble  nations.  The 
secular  government  appears  overbearing  enough  without 
this  combination;  and  always,  in  contrast  to  the  hie- 
rarchy, assumes  more  or  less  the  character  of  brute 
force.  The  Christian  people,  as  Sterne  said  in  one  of 
his  sermons,  is  the  true  Issachar  bowed  between  two 
burdens,  and  it  is  too  sorely  oppressed  when  all  the 
weight  is  laid  on  one  side.  This  natural  popular  in- 
stinct showed  itself  here  as  usual.  Boniface  succeeding 
in  constituting  the  clerical  synods,  the  bishops  and  metro- 
politan, and  therefore  in  the  last  resort,  the  Pope,  as 
the  heirs  of  the  liberties  of  the  Christian  congregation, 
in  the  stead  of  Pepin  and  the  other  sovereigns,  who 
found  themselves  in  possession  of  these  liberties,  or  were 
seeking  to  appropriate  them.  But  under  this  system, 
too,  the  Christian  nation,  as  the  episcopal  flock,  re- 
mained shorn  of  its  rights;  nay,  the  great  Christian 
congregation,  the  State,  was  stripped  of  its  power,  and 
at  last  of  its  rights,  toward  the  hierarchy.  Naturally 
the  position  of  the  parochial  clergy  became  much  less 
free  under  the  episcopal  rule,  but  the  freedom  of  the 


78  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

spiritual  element  was  asserted  against  the  secular  power, 
which  was  at  that  time  no  less  rapacious  than  barbarous. 

This  seems  to  us  the  true  import  for  the  world's  his- 
tory of  the  work  of  Boniface.  In  his  fundamental  hie- 
rarchical principle  lie  all  the  Decretals,  and  all  the 
forgeries  and  corruptions  of  the  law  of  the  Western 
Church  which  are  bound  up  therewith.  From  this  first 
principle  sprang  all  the  struggles  of  the  Popes  with  the 
Emperors  concerning  the  rights  of  investiture,  induction, 
and  confirmation;  and,  lastly,  the  pretensions  of  the 
bishops  to  a  canon  law,  which  negatives  the  State  no 
less  than  the  congregation. 

Professor  Leo,  as  we  have  already  hinted,  says  that 
Boniface  begot  the  German  nation,  and  that  his  grave 
should  be  more  sacred  to  us  than  the  graves  of  the 
patriarchs  to  the  Israelites.*  The  same  gifted  writer 
also  informs  us,  "that  the  Carlo vingians,  by  the  mode 
of  their  accession  to  the  throne,  submitted  themselves 
even  as  monarchs  to  the  moral  law  of  the  Christian 
Church,"  and  that  "  this  accession  assumed  as  its  funda- 
mental principle,  that  we  must  obey  God  rather  than 
man;"  wherefore  Professor  Leo  is  very  zealous  against 
those  "narrow-minded  Protestant  theologians"  who 
strive  to  exculpate  Boniface  from  intrigues  connected 
with  this,  "the  weightiest  political  act  of  his  day." 
"They  forget,"  he  says,  "that  at  the  name  of  Jesus 
every  knee  should  bow,  and  regard  the  servant's  form, 
not  as  one  of  humiliation,  but  of  glory,  "f  Thus  teaches 
this  enlightened  politician  and  professor  of  history  in  a 
Protestant  university,  principally  frequented  by  future 
Protestant  theologians.  Much  as  we  rejoice  in  such 
perfect  freedom  of  instruction,  we  can  as  little  coincide 

*  Vorlesungen  iiber  die  deutsche  Gleschichte,  i.  488. 
t  Ibid.  s.  481.     Compare  note  on  474. 


RISE   OF  THE   HIERARCHY.  79 

with  Professor  Leo.  The  congregation  can  no  more  die 
out  than  the  moral  order  of  the  universe,  or  historical 
truth — than  common  sense  and  conscience. 

It  was  not  merely  a  contest  between  Prince  and  Pope, 
which  Boniface  conducted  to  a  conclusion  favorable  to 
the  hierarchy.  It  was  the  coat  of  Christ  over  which 
the  mighty  ones  of  the  earth  were  disputing,  and  which 
they  at  last  parted  among  themselves.  The  contest  con- 
cerning the  nomination  and  investiture  of  bishops  be- 
came a  contest  for  seepter  and  tiara,  carried  on  between 
the  absolute  imperial  and  the  absolute  papal  power. 
The  possessors  of  the  kingly  authority  among  the  Ger- 
mans conceived  (as  Rettberg  very  justly  expresses  it),* 
the  position  of  the  bishops  as  analogous  to  that  of  their 
feudal  followers.  In  France,  in  the  time  of  Boniface, 
the  Franks  recognized  in  their  relations  with  Rome 
those  rights  which  had  been  accorded  to  the  Pope  in 
this  great  dispute  in  Christendom,  by  the  decisions  of 
Sardis,  and  certain  imperial  decrees  of  the  last  days  of 
the  empire;  rights  which  even  a  Gregory  the  Great 
only  claimed  over  his  own  patriarchate — thus,  for  in- 
stance, not  over  Milan.  These  privileges  consist  in  the 
right  of  watching  over  the  laws  of  the  universal  church, 
and  of  ultimate  decision  in  case  of  appeal  to  these  laws 
by  the  metropolitans  on  disputed  points.  Gregory's 
predecessor,  Pelagius,  did  not  refuse  to  furnish  King 
Childebert,  on  the  demand  of  the  latter,  with  proof  of 
his  orthodoxy  and  his  adhesion  to  the  council  of  Chal- 
cedon.  Pelagius  submitted  to  do  so;  for  Childebert, 
though  not  his  own  sovereign,  was  a  great  King ;  and 
he  did  it  because,  as  he  says,  "Holy  S(»-ipture  com- 
mands us  to  be  subject  to  kings."  Beyond  these  limits 
no  historical  trace  can  be  found  of  interference  on  the 

*  Rettberg  Gkschichte  ii.  583,  etc.     Gieseler,  I  2,  p.  196. 


80  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

part  of  Rome.  None  of  the  apostles  to  the  Allemannen 
— Fridolin,  Columban,  and  Gallus — provided  themselves 
in  their  missionary  work  with  powers  from  Rome  ;  nor 
did  Emmeran,  the  apostle  of  Bavaria.  The  story  that 
Kilian,  the  apostle  of  Thuringia,  sought  a  commission 
from  Rome,  is  an  evident  fabrication.  It  was  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  convertors,  Willibord  and  Boniface,  who,  in  the 
first  half  of  the  eighth  century,  caused  themselves  to  be 
furnished  by  Rome  with  apostolic  authority ;  and  Boni- 
face was  the  first  to  swear  the  oath  of  fealty  to  the 
Pope,  which  was  taken  by  the  suffragan  bishops  of  the 
Roman  Church.  But  even  Boniface  never  dreamed  of 
thereby  weakening  or  setting  aside  the  metropolitan 
authority ;  as  is  proved  by  the  remarkable  trait  in  his 
life  already  mentioned. 

But  with  regard  to  ecclesiastical  legislation,  the  Kings 
of  France  assumed  to  themselves  the  ancient  rights  of 
the  Christian  congregation  as  opposed  to  the  purely 
episcopal  synods,  and  this  evidently  with  the  approba- 
tion of  the  Frankish  nobles  and  the  people."*  The 
first  great  Australian  Council  of  742,  the  so-called 
CorwiUum  Germanicum^  which  established  the  episco- 
pal authority  in  the  position  awarded  to  it  by  modern 
canon  law,  was  not  an  episcopal  synod,  but  a  half-yearly 
assembly  of  the  empire^  convened  by  the  King — a  coun- 
cil of  the  magnates  and  optimates^  among  whom  the 
bishops  were  included.  Here  the  propositions  of  the 
bishops  were  heard,  accepted  with  amendments,  and 
published  by  the  King  as  royal  decrees  or  imperial 
ordinances.  The  episcopal  nominations  of  Boniface  are 
not  mentioned  at  all ;  Carloman  undertakes  the  appoint- 
ments as  though  nothing  had  been  done.  So,  likewise, 
the  new  regulations  concerning  ecclesiastical  discipline 
*  Rettberg,  i.  352,  etc. 


THE  FRANKS  AND  THE  CHURCH.       81 

and  marriage,  appear  in  the  form  of  decrees  of  the 
State.  This  proceeding  elicits  an  expression  of  thank- 
ful satisfaction  from  Pope  Zacharias.  The  same  course 
is  pursued  in  the  three  succeeding  synods ; — the  Lesti- 
nian  (held  in  743  in  the  Hennegau),  the  Neustrian 
(held  in  Soissons,  744),  and  the  General  Council  of 
745.  Pepm  followed  the  example  of  Carloman.  The 
decisions  of  the  oecumenical  councils  are  recognized, 
and  new  ordinances  are  promulgated  by  the  King,  in 
accordance  with  the  deliberations  of  the  imperial 
council. 

Whatever  would  seem  to  contradict  this,  the  historical 
fact  of  the  case  has  been  shown  by  an  unprejudiced 
criticism  to  be  the  misconception,  or  the  forgery  and 
falsification  of  a  later  period.  The  genuineness  of  the 
ancient  records  of  these  four  Prankish  councils  has 
been  placed  beyond  all  doubt  by  the  most  eminent 
French  and  German  critics  ;  and  whoever  chooses  may 
now  read  them  for  himself  in  the  third  volume  of  that 
truly  great,  yet  melancholy  national  work,  Pertz's 
Monumenta  Germanica.  The  form  of  this  compact 
between  the  bishops  and  the  civil  government  with  re- 
gard to  the  relative,  position  of  Church  and  State  was, 
therefore,  in  no  sense,  based  on  the  assumption  that  the 
episcopate  possessed  an  independence  external  to  and 
above  the  State.  The  State  represented  the  congrega- 
tion, which  had  been  forced  into  the  back-ground  by  the 
overweening  power  of  the  vassals  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  perfectly  analogous  power  of  the  episcopate  on  the 
other.  It  was  still  Franks  who  deliberated,  and  the 
Prankish  King  who  determined  and  proclaimed  what 
should  be  the  law  of  the  land,  after  a  Catholic  Chris- 
tianity had  penetrated  the  national  life.     The  form  was 

rude,  like  the  age ;  but  it  was  the  right  form  with  re- 
4* 


82  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

gard  to  the  relation  of  the  State  to  the  hierarchy. 
Considered  from  the  widest  historical  point  of  view,  it 
answers  to  the  position  assumed  in  ecclesiastical  afiairs, 
under  a  freer  and  somewhat  different  development  of 
both  the  Church  and  State  elements,  by  the  English 
Parliament  of  the  seventeenth  century.  But  the  direct 
historical  development  of  this  form  is  the  Gallican 
Church,  not  only  as  established  by  the  declaration  of 
the  French  clergy  in  1682,  but  rather  such  as  Napo- 
leon would  have  made  it,  when,  by  the  organic  articles 
of  the  Concordat  of  1801,  he  began  to  bring  it  into 
harmony  with  the  altered  relations  of  the  world.*  Had 
the  course  of  the  world's  history  fallen  out  otherwise, 
the  Concordat  of  Fontainebleau  would  have  completed 

*  As  the  terms  of  this  Concordat  may  not  be  immediately 
jiresent  to  the  minds  of  my  readers,  it  may  be  as  well  to  recall 
its  principal  provisions.  I  recapitulate  them  as  given  in  Bauer's 
Weltgeschichte.  "  This  Concordat,  signed  by  the  Pope  on  the 
18th  August,  1801,  re-established  the  observance  of  Sunday,  and 
restored  the  old  days  of  the  week ;  deprived  the  State  of  all 
churches  still  used  for  Grovernment  purposes,  and  where  none 
were  stUl  standing,  obliged  the  Grovernment  to  assign  some  other 
public  building  for  divine  worship.  It  insures  to  the  Cathohc 
religion  the  free  exercise  of  its  rights,  but  it  is  nowhere  called 
the  religion  of  the  State — the  future  head  of  the  State  might 
even  be  of  another  confession.  Protestants  have  equal  rights 
and  privileges  with  Catholics ;  Jews  retain  the  civil  rights  which 
were  granted  to  them  during  the  Revolution;  all  who  have 
purchased  Church  lands  from  the  State  retain  undisputed  posses- 
sion of  them.  The  First  Consul  enters  into  possession  of  all  the 
powers  and  privileges  enjoyed  by  the  previous  sovereigns  of 
France,  nominates  the  Archbishops  and  Bishops,  and  receives 
from  them  the  oath  of  allegiance  ;  is  further  authorized  to  make 
any  police  regulations  affecting  the  Church  which  may  be  required 
for  the  public  tranquilUty.  The  Pope  confirms  the  Archbishops 
and  Bishops,  and  they  nominate  directly  all  the  parochial  clergy, 
who  are  confirmed  by  the  Government,  and  a  suitable  salary  is 
to  be  accorded  to  them,"  etc.,  etc. — Tr. 


METROPOLITANISM   AND   PAPACY.  SS 

this  work,  and  restored  the  metropolitan  constitution  as 
it  existed  in  essence  in  the  eighth  century  under  the 
Franks.  But  certainly  the  more  ancient  form  was  the 
more  free.  The  middle  ages  did  not  attain,  either  in 
civil  or  ecclesiastical  polity,  to  any  stable  form  of 
freedom ;  the  knot  was  already  too  intricate  ere  the 
Teutonic  races  entered  on  the  scene  of  the  world's 
history.  The  missionary  institutions  of  the  British  and 
Irish  monasteries  were  neither  the  original  type  of 
Christianity,  nor  one  that  could  become  permanent ; 
the  place  of  the  Christian  congregation  could  not  be 
supplied  by  monks  and  their  bishops ;  this  form  of 
government  fell,  like  the  rule  of  the  Judges  in  Israel, 
by  its  own  incapacity.  But  still  less  was  the  congrega- 
tion duly  represented  under  the  sway  of  the  episcopacy 
or  metropolitanism  of  the  middle  ages.  The  knot 
remained  unloosed,  or  was  cut  asunder  by  despotism. 
Even  if  the  Keformers  had  not  opened  a  new  sphere  to 
the  development  of  the  European  mind,  yet  the  progress 
of  culture  and  the  social  relations  of  the  age  were  grad- 
ually pressing  on  toward  another  attempt,  no  longer  to 
solve,  but  to  compromise  the  difficulty.  The  question 
was,  to  what  point  of  the  yet  unconcluded  course  of 
development  should  a  return  be  made.  The  Galilean 
and  Napoleonic  view  of  the  relation  between  the  epis- 
copal authority  and  that  of  the  metropolitan,  and  be- 
tween the  latter  and  the  Papal  power,  has  gained  a 
complete  victory  over  the  opposing  Ultramontane  view 
in  the  field  of  historical  jurisprudence — that  is  to  say, 
ampng  the  students  of  history,  and  a  certain  portion, 
now  but  a  small  one,  of  the  clergy  of  France  and  South 
Germany.  But  the  question  of  the  juridical  right  no 
longer  lives  in  the  remembrance  of  the  French  nation  ; 
and  with  regard  to  the  position  of  the  reigning  dynasty, 


84  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

it  is  still  an  undecided  point  whether  the  present  Em- 
peror will  be  able  to  maintain  the  Napoleonic  constitu- 
tion or  not.  Will  it  be  a  reason  for  or  against  its 
maintenance  that  the  constitution  of  Joseph  II.  has  just 
been  relinquished  by  the  Imperial  House  of  Austria, 
^after  a  tenacious  resistance  ?  We  may  probably  live  to 
see  this  question  answered. 

Conceived  in  its  highest  form,  this  struggle  resolves 
itself  into  a  question  of  dictatorship.  The  dictatorship 
of  the  State  has  for  its  object  the  protection  of  the 
laity,  as  subjects,  against  the  clergy,  and  of  the  pa- 
rochial clergy  against  the  episcopate,  whose  power  over 
the  pastorate  is  unlimited,  according  to  the  French 
code,  in  France  and  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  and 
now,  according  to  the  new  canon  law,  in  Austria  also. 

For,  historically  considered,  the  rights  of  the  congre- 
gation were  no  more  derived  legally  from  the  authority 
of  the  State,  than  were  the  rights  of  the  bishops  them- 
selves. Let  us  once  more  look  at  the  facts.  The  legis- 
lative power  belonged  to  the  congregation,  as  well  as 
the  right  of  electing  bishops ;  the  executive  government 
to  the  council  of  elders,  and  already,  in  very  early 
times,  to  the  bishops,  as  the  head  of  the  presbytery. 

Such  is  the  origin  and  position  of  free  episcopacy. 
Under  this  state  of  things,  the  congregation  possessed 
the  highest  voice  in  legislation — that  is,  nothing  could 
be  decided  without  its  participation ;  and  in  the  election 
of  bishops,  the  congregation  acted  beside  and  with  the 
parochial  clergy. 

As  the  nations  became  Christian,  and  the  congrega- 
tions, therefore,  were  bound  up  into  a  Christian  state, 
the  power  of  the  Crown  meanwhile  developing  and 
strengthening,  the  civil  government  gradually  assumed 
the  position  of  a  national  dictatorship  toward  the  Rom- 


CHURCH  AND  STATE.  85 

ish  clergy  and  the  Pope.  Diets,  in  which  the  bishops 
took  part,  passed  resolutions  even  on  the  affairs  of  the 
clergy';  and  made  general  regulations  with  regard  to 
marriage,  education,  and  similar  matters,  which  would 
formerly  have  fallen  within  the  sphere  of  each  separate 
congregation. 

Thus  prince  and  bishop,  and,  at  the  head  of  all,  Pope 
and  Emperor,  parted  between  them  the  heritage  of  the 
congregation.  The  congregation,  meanwhile,  gradually 
ceased  to  be  the  independent  depositary  of  faith  and 
Christianity,  as  also  of  the  rights  of  Christians. 

As  the  Reformation  was  the  parent  of  the  independent 
Christian  state,  so  that  civil  absolutism  which  culmin- 
ated in  Philip  II.  and  Louis  XIV.,  sought  to  place  the 
national  element  on  a  level  with  the  canonical,  as  pos- 
sessed of  equal  authority.  In  all  collisions  with  the 
Church  on  the  rights  of  property,  or  in  the  domain  of 
law  in  general,  the  decree  of  the  sovereign  now  appeared 
as  the  highest  symbol  of  the  nation. 

Thus  arose  the  disputes  between  Church  and  State, 
in  the  modern  sense  of  the  term.  They  were  disputes, 
not  merely  about  the  filling  up  of  certain  clerical  ap- 
pointments, but  about  these  three  great  points — mar- 
riage, education,  and  the  management  of  Church  prop- 
erty. 

For  a  time  the  sovereigns  believed  that  they  could 
put  an  end  to  these  contests  by  means  of  so-called  Con- 
cordats, or  treaties  with  Rome;  but  so  many  insur- 
mountable points  of  disunion  presented  themselves,  that 
it  always  became  necessary,  in  order  that  the  sovereign 
should  be  ruler  of  his  own  country,  either  to  break  the 
Concordat,  or  to  take  the  more  honorable  course  of 
Joseph  II.  and  Napoleon  the  Great,  and  establish  as  the 
law  of  the  land,  by  means  of  organic  articles  and  civil 


86  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

legislation,  those  indispensable  arrangements  which  it 
was  impossible  to  obtain  from  Rome. 

If,  then,  we  look  back  over  the  whole  course  of  devel- 
opment through  these  eleven  hundred  years,  up  to  its 
present  point  in  our  own  day,  the  final  result  is,  that  if 
the  middle  ages  failed  to  find  any  means  of  reconciling 
these  opposing  powers,  royal  or  imperial  absolutism  has 
been  equally  unsuccessful.  Despotism  against  despot- 
ism, the  secular  power  will  always  have  the  worst  of  it ; 
and,  regarded  simply  as  a  contest  between  these  two 
powers,  it  is  just  and  right  that  it  should  be  so. 

Once  for  all,  the  eternal  laws  of  Providence  forbid  us 
to  gather  grapes  ofi"  thistles,  or  the  fruits  of  freedom  from 
the  tree  of  despotism  ;  though  such  a  harvest  is  not  only 
believed  in  nowadays  by  many  governments,  but  even 
sought,  in  their  despondency,  by  many  nations.  But 
the  tide  is  turning :  the  deeper  stirrings  of  the  moral 
and  religious  consciousness  are  making  themselves  felt 
in  the  hearts  of  individuals  and  of  nations  ;  and  the  sup- 
pression of  the  laity  as  the  congregation,  begins  to  be 
productive  of  as  much  uneasiness  as  the  suppression  of 
the  rights  of  the  metropolitans. 

But  we  will  say  more  on  this  point  hereafter,  and 
from  a  freer  point  of  view.  For  the  present  our  near- 
est duty  is  to  look  more  closely  into  the  three  great 
points  of  dispute  already  indicated.  We  will,  however, 
first  await  the  conclusion  of  the  week's  festival,  and  the 
issue  of  the  processions  and  assemblies  connected  with  it 
in  Mayence,  which  will  last  up  to  the  21st  of  this 
month.     Meanwhile,  farewell ! 


LETTER    IV. 

THE   SERMON   OP  THE* TIARA  BY  THE  BISHOP  OF  STRAS- 

HE   ASSEMBLY   OF 
m  THE   AUTUMN 


BURa,   AND   THE   MANIFESTO   OF   THE   ASSEMBLY   OF 


OF  1848. 

Charlottenberg,  June  24th,  1855. 

The  Feast  of  St.  John  the  Baptist. 

My  Honored  Friend  : 

The  great  festival  has  passed  away,  and  its  train 
of  ceremonies  has  ended  in  processions  and  sermons.  In 
spite  of  the  jubilee  indulgences  connected  with  it,  not  a 
trace  of  sympathy  on  the  part  of  the  German  people  can 
be  discovered,  not  even  among  the  inhabitants  of  Fulda 
or  Mayence.  The  Protestant  festival  on  the  Sunday 
does  not  even  seem  to  have  inspired  one  sermon  of  any 
importance.  No  news  from  Sebastopol,  only  from  Han- 
over. 

So  much  the  more  can  we  now  afford  to  smile  at  much 
that  has  been  cried  aloud  in  our  ears  from  their  sanctu- 
aries by  the  enthusiastic  coryphcai  of  this  party,  or  that 
is  announced  or  betrayed  to  us  in  the  public  prints. 
But  it  is  worth  while  to  draw  the  attention  of  the  politi- 
cal and  philosophic  spectator,  and  of  the  reflecting  lover 
of  his  country,  whether  Catholic  or  Protestant,  to  some 
things  which  have  been  said  by  the  opposite  side,  espe- 
cially toward  the  close  of  the  festival. 

I  know  not,  nor  is  it  of  much  importance,  whether 


38  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Dr.  Riisz,  the  Bishop  of  Strasburg,  himself  of  German 
descent,  was  one  of  those  prelates  to  whom  M.  von  Dal- 
wigk,  the  minister  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Hesse,  gave  a 
great  banquet  last  week  in  the  name  of  his  Protestant 
sovereign  ;  on  which  occasion,  though  himself  a  Protest- 
ant, he  thought  proper  to  say  so  many  kind  and  approv- 
ing things  to  his  eminent  ecclesiastical  guests,  about  the 
enlightened  sentiments  they  had  manifested. 

In  short,  as  we  are  informed  by  the  newspapers,  the 
Bishop  of  Strasburg  preached  on  the  21st  instant,  in 
the  cathedral  of  Mayence,  when  he  took  the  opportunity 
of  eulogizing  to  the  utmost  of  his  power  the  hero  of  the 
day,  and  the  master  of  St.  Boniface  and  himself — the 
Pope.  All  this  is  quite  in  order.  But  of  the  conclu- 
sion of  his  sermon  we  have  the  following  account  in  the 
letter  of  the  Mayence  correspondent  of  the  Neue  Preus- 
sische  Zeitung : 

''  At  the  conclusion  of  his  discourse,  the  Bishop  of  Strasburg 
invited  the  faithful  to  show  their  gratitude  to  St.  Boniface,  by 
praying  for  the  speedy  conversion  of  England  to  the  True  Faith 
and  the  Chair  of  St.  Peter,  for  she  had  been  drinking  for  three 
hundred  years  from  a  fountain  whose  waters  are  not  those  of 
Eternal  Life.  The  orator  then  addressed  an  apostrophe  to  the 
Queen  of  England  herself,  solemnly  adjuring  her  to  restore  the 
tiara,  which  was  unjustly  placed  on  her  head,  to  its  rightful  pos- 
sessor, the  Pope  of  Rome." 

The  Bishop  of  Strasburg  is  unable  to  see  any  thing 
in  the  whole  dispute  but  Pope  and  Emperor.  The 
Queen  of  England  exercises  certain  privileges  to  which 
the  Pope  lays  claim;  let  her  relinquish  them  to  the 
Pope.  Then  the  dispute  would  be  settled,  the  distinc- 
tions of  confessions  would  be  at  an  end,  and  with  them 
the  misery  of  the  world.  Nothing  is  said  of  Germany ; 
we  do  not  know,  therefore,  whether  he  has  given  us  up, 


THE  QUEEN  AND  THE  TIARA.  89 

like  the  Bishop  of  Mayence,  or  thinks  himself  sure  of 
us,  like  Le  Maistre.  In  short,  it  is  a  question  of  Pope 
and  Anti-Pope. 

As  for  the  people  and  history,  too  many  since  1851 
have  left  them  altogether  out  of  the  question.  The  con- 
sciences of  individuals,  and  the  rights  of  Christian  con- 
gregations, are  of  as  little  account  with  them,  and  with 
this  Bishop,  as  the  defunct  liberties  of  the  Galilean 
Church.  This  is  characteristic.  Equally  so  is  the  ig- 
norant or  consciously  false  representation  of  the  real 
matter  of  fact.  Queen  Victoria  exercises  the  prerogative 
of  appointing  bishops  under  the  form  of  a  pro  formd 
election,  after  privately  consulting  the  archbishop,  who 
would  assuredly  as  little  draw  down  on  himself  the  ter- 
rors of  a  prcemunire  by  the  use  of  his  veto,  as  would 
the  chapter  by  any  well  founded  refusal.  Charles  Mar- 
tel  and  Pepin  exercised  the  same  right  without  any 
election,  as  heirs  of  the  Christian  congregation — there- 
fore the  exercise  of  such  a  prerogative  involves  no  in- 
fringement of  the  papal  rights.  The  Queen,  however, 
can  affirm  no  new  dogma,  and  has  no  power  of  excom- 
munication. It  is  true  that  in  conjunction  with  her 
Parliament  (in  which  the  clergy  is  represented  by  the 
bishops)  she  makes  laws  on  ecclesiastical  matters,  as 
was  done  by  those  Frankish  Kings,  without  parliament 
or  public  opinion.  But  whatever  she  does  is  done  by 
virtue  of  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  Crown ;  while 
the  Catholic  dynasties  have  always  done  the  same,  when 
in  their  power,  without  constitution. 

Therefore  she  has  no  tiara,  and  consequently  can  not 
restore  any  to  the  Pope.  But,  as  we  have  already  said, 
even  in  reference  to  St.  Boniface,  this  expression  of 
our  Lord  Bishop  is  not  in  harmony  with  history  and 
fact.     What  the  panegyrist  of  Boniface  calls  the  rights 


90  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

of  the  tiara  were  unknown  to  Boniface  himself,  except 
in  so  far  as  he  combated  them. 

But  in  zeal  is  truth ;  and  in  every  enthusiasm  some 
truth  is  revealed.  Since  this  declaration  has  not  been 
disowned,  let  us  examine  it,  as  a  test  of  the  views 
taken  by  the  hierarchical  party  of  the  affairs  of  the 
world,  and  as  a  standard  of  episcopal  acquaintance  with 
history. 

The  spirit  which  is  revealed  in  it  is,  indeed,  not  that 
of  the  Gospel.  Rather  does  it  bear  a  strong  resem- 
blance to  that  spirit  of  religious  hatred  which  has  so 
long  drenched  Europe  in  blood;  that  spirit  of  perse- 
cution which  these  claims  to  absolute  power  necessarily 
bring  with  them,  and  whose  latest  fruits  we  shall  soon 
have  to  contemplate. 

Nor  is  it  the  spirit  of  the  great  forerunner  of  Christ, 
whose  memory  is  celebrated  to-day  by  Christendom. 
In  the  midst  of  very  evil  and  truly  desperate  times, 
John  the  Baptist  did  not  look  for  the  salvation  of  the 
people  of  God  and  of  mankind  in  a  general  recognition 
of  the  authority  of  the  high  priest,  whose  emissaries  and 
adherents,  the  priests  and  Levites,  stood  before  him. 
Here  is  his  short  sermon  to  the  assembled  multitude : 

"  0  generation  of  vipers,  who  hath  warjied  you  to  flee  from 
the  wrath  to  come  ?  Bring  forth,  therefore,  'fruits  worthy  of  re- 
pentance, and  begin  not  to  say  within  yourselves.  We  have 
Abraham  to  our  father ;  for  I  say  unto  you,  that  God  is  able  of 
these  stones  to  raise  up  children  unto  Abraham.  And  now  also 
the  ax  is  laid  unto  the  root  of  the  trees :  every  tree,  therefore, 
which  bringeth  not  forth  good  fruit,  is  hewn  down,  and  cast  into 
the  fire."     (Luke  iii.  7-9.) 

Let  this  be  our  text  to-day  for  a  sermon  on  the  tiara, 
very  different  from  that  of  the  Bishop  of  Strasburg. 
Since  he  exalts  the  tiara  so  highly,  we  will  consider 


CLAIMS  OF  THE  TIARA.  91 

more  closely  its  real  claims,  and,  above  all,  search  into 
their  origin. 

The  insoluble  problem  of  the  perplexities  in  which 
the  State,  whether  Catholic  or  Protestant,  is  involved 
with  the  hierarchy,  and  the  irreconcilable  discord  be- 
tween them,  so  long  as  the  hierarchy  asserts  its  absolute 
rights  with  respect  to  the  three  great  corner-stones  of 
the  State — marriage,  education,  and  property — ^both  lie 
in  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  law  of  the  Western  clergy. 

Hardly  had  the  metropolitan  system  of  Boniface  su- 
perseded the  ancient  rights  of  the  Christian  congrega- 
tion, when,  as  is  well  known,  the  State,  under  the  weak 
and  superstitious  son  of  Charlemagne,  Louis  the  Pious, 
was  also  brought  to  acknowledge  the  supreme  authority 
of  the  Church.  This  was  the  work  of  a  century. 
When  it  was  complete,  toward  the  middle  of  the  ninth 
century,  the  Roman  papacy,  now  constituted  the  sole 
heir  both  of  the  Roman  empire  and  the  rights  and  liber- 
ties of  the  Christian  Church,  looked  around  for  a  legal 
basis  for  its  position.  As  no  such  basis  could  be  found 
in  the  canonical  codes  and  decretals  already  existing,  it 
accepted  one  invented  for  the  purpose.  The  absurd  in- 
vention of  the  bestowal  of  Rome  by  Constantino  on  Syl- 
vester, dates  from  the  age  of  St.  Boniface,  or  a  little 
earlier,  and  is  of  papal  origin.  It  still  commanded  uni- 
versal belief  when,  six  centuries  later,  Laurentius  Valla 
made  the  first  historical  use  of  that  application  of  the 
conscience  to  ancient  records  which  is  now  called  criti- 
cism. Its  object  was  very  simple,  namely,  to  give  the 
Pope  a  right  of  property  in  Rome.  More  difficult  was 
it  to  find  a  legal  foundation  for  the  universal  sovereign- 
ty, which  followed  the  assertion  of  Rome's  supreme  epis- 
copacy. The  foundation  of  Christianity  is  a  purely 
historical  one ;  the  depositary  of  right  and  law  within 


92  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

her  communion  is  the  Ecclesia — ^the  congregation  pos- 
sessing its  own  members  and  its  own  independence. 
The  prescriptions,  or  canones  of  ancient  Christendom 
always  presume  this.  Thus,  the  primitive  records  were 
in  glaring  contradiction  with  the  pretensions  of  that 
hierarchy  which  Boniface  and  the  Carlovingians  had 
naturalized  in  France  and  Germany.  A  new  canon  law 
must  be  invented.  That  the  Decretals  of  Isidor  were 
an  intentional  falsehood  and  forgery  had  been  already 
maintained  by  Luther  and  Calvin,  and  was  demonstrated 
by  the  Magdeburg  Centuriatores*  as  completely  as  the 
motion  of  the  earth  by  Galileo,  i.  e.,  sufficiently  for 
every  one  who  has  an  uninjured  sense  for  truth.  Nor 
since  the  time  of  Van  Espen,  have  all  the  arts  of  the 
romanticists  of  canon  law  availed  to  raise  a  doubt  on 
the  point,  even  in  Germany 

It  is  curious  enough,  that  the  Archbishopric  of  May- 
ence  was  more  particularly  implicated  in  this  forgery. 
It  was  a  successor  of  Boniface,  Otgar,  who  fabricated 
these  Decretals,  some  eighty  years  after  the  death  of 
Boniface  (about  833),  and  then  caused  them  to  be 
mingled  with  certain  falsified  capitularies  by  Benedictus 
Levita.  Here,  then,  we  find  that  archbishopric  appear- 
ing as  the  parent  of  a  lie,  which,  according  to  the  oracle 
of  the  professor  of  Halle,  is  so  blessed  with  hereditary 

*  The  authors  of  the  Magdeburg  Church  History,  written  by 
Flavius  and  his  friends,  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
to  prove  the  right  and  necessity  of  the  Reformation  from  the  his- 
tory of  the  Church.  Every  century  was  treated  in  a  separate  vol- 
ume by  one  of  this  band  of  authors,  and  hence  their  name  of 
Centuriatores.  The  work  was  brought  down  to  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  It  had  a  powerful  effect  on  the  age  when  it 
was  published  and,  called  forth  the  celebrated  answer  of  Baronius, 
who  endeavored  to  make  the  same  tract  of  history  prove  the 
justice  of  the  claims  of  the  Romish  Church. — TV. 


THE  FOKGED  DECRETALS.  93 

wisdom,  that,  up  to  the  close  of  the  Holy  Koman 
Empire,  we  see  its  Electors  as  imperial  chancellors, 
distinguished  for  the  wise  counsels  by  which  they  ren- 
der Germany  happy,  and  lead  the  empire  to  its  glorious 
termination. 

There  is  as  little  truth  in  the  idea,  to  which  some 
celebrated  Catholic  scholars  of  our  own  time  have  endeav- 
ored to  give  plausibility,  that  this  most  colossal  of  all 
historical  deceptions  (for  the  forgeries  of  the  Mormons 
give  themselves  out  for  romances)  has  its  basis  in  ancient 
canon  law ;  as  it  is  impossible  to  maintain^  either  that 
the  collection  grew  up  of  itself  out  of  the  unsuspicious 
faith  of  the  people  (according  to  the  well-known  assump- 
tions of  the  romantic  school  of  a  popular  creative  poetic- 
al genius,  and  of  a  generatio  equivoca  in  history),  or 
that  these  Decretals  arose  from  the  corruption  of  really 
ancient  and  genuine  traditions.  It  seems  to  me  most 
humiliating  to  the  German  mind  and  German  science, 
that  grave  inquirers  into  history  should  think  such  sub- 
terfuges necessary  to  protect  their  works  from  inclusion 
in  the  Index  Expurgatorius,  or  from  the  censure  of 
ignorant  French  bishops  and  crafty  Jesuit  chaplains. 
Doubtless,  the  condition  of  the  times,  and  the  state  of 
many  perplexed  minds,  may  have  suggested  the  funda- 
mental idea ;  but  this  only  explains  the  success  of  the 
deception,  it  does  not  prove  the  innocence  of  its  birth. 
This  lie  rather,  sprang  into  existence,  like  Minerva  from 
the  head  of  Jupiter,  consciously  and  full-grown  from 
the  head  of  the  hierarchy,  and  has  spread  out  its  branches 
from  Mayence  over  all  Western  Christendom,  like  a 
mighty  upas-tree.  The  proper  poetry  of  absolutism  and 
superstition  is  that  impious  thing,  a  pious  fraud.  How 
early,  and  in  what  place,  the  consciousness  of  fraud 
passed  into  credulous  delusion;  and  which  did  most, 


94  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

Kome  or  Mayence,  to  produce  or  diffuse  the  forgery  is 
a  point  we  will  leave  undecided.  But  one  portion  of 
the  deceit  at  least  rests  on  Mayence;  and  the  whole 
deception  could  not  be  unknown  to  Rome  when  it  was 
accepted  there.  Boniface  had  the  collection  of  Decretals 
by  Dionysius  in  his  hands,  and  no  other.  Every  bishop 
in  the  Frankish  empire  knew  what  capitularia  had  been 
published ;  none  better  than  the  Archbishop  of  Mayence 
and  his  canons,  officials  who  appear  at  a  very  early  date 
in  connection  with  that  see,  and  from  whom  our  cathedral 
chapters  are  descended.  In  that  city,  therefore,  it  was 
easier  to  deceive,  and  more  difficult  to  be  deceived,  than 
anywhere  else,  Rome  excepted. 

Every  new  step  in  research  confirms  the  justice  of  the 
historical  views  of  the  Reformers  in  this  field,  no  less 
than  others,  of  ancient  Church  history.  They  saw,  in 
a  general  and  comprehensive  manner,  what  was  genuine 
and  what  was  spurious,  and  their  successors  completed 
the  work  of  proof;  while  their  opponents  defended  every 
thing  spurious  with  the  acuteness  of  self-interested  par- 
tisans. The  latter  party,  beaten  at  all  points,  now 
begins  to  act  as  though  those  things  had  been  always 
believed  which  have  been  always  contested ;  and  those 
matters  were  of  no  consequence,  for  which  men  have 
fought  as  for  divine  right  and  sacred  truth.  But  every 
fresh  step  in  the  progress  of  inquiry  renders  these  eva- 
sions less  tenable.  Wasserschleben  first  disclosed  the 
beginning  of  the  fraud,  or  at  least  brought  us  on  to  the 
right  track.  Since  then,  the  discovery  of  the  great 
work  of  Hippolytus  of  Portus,  has  led  to  the  restoration 
of  the  primitive  text  of  the  so-called  Canones  Apostolicae, 
wliich  still  form  the  precious  foundation  of  the  canon 
law  both  of  the  Eastern  and  the  Western  clergy,  and 
has  rendered  possible  the  restoration  of  the  primitive 


THE  FORGED  DECRETALS.  95 

records  of  the  Churches  of  Antioch  and  Alexandria,  the 
most  learned  and  illustrious  Churches  of  the  first  three 
centuries.  Here  I  can  but  indicate  the  indisputable 
results  attained  by  a  course  of  investigation  which  I 
have  pursued  elsewhere,*  According  to  these  researches 
we  find  that  our  present  collection  of  primitive  regula- 
tions, manners  and  customs  of  the  apostolic  community, 
comprised  in  eight  books,  to  which  the  name  of  the 
Apostles  is  prefixed,  is  but  a  feeble  attempt  of  the 
Byzantine  Church  to  legalize  the  authority  of  the  bishops 
and  metropolitans ;  as  the  Roman  Church,  four  hundred 
years  later  legalized  the  supremacy  of  the  Papal  power. 
Those  simple  regulations  and  customs  of  the  principal 
churches  which  could  not  be  traced  to  the  decisions  of 
individual  bishops  or  congregations,  were  collected  as 
early  as  the  second  century,  and  ranked  as  apostolic. 
In  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  this  collection  was 
transformed  by  interpolations  and  corruptions  into  a 
title-deed  of  the  episcopal  hierarchy.  But  the  Decretals 
accomplished  the  same  purpose  for  the  West  on  a  much 
grander  scale,  and  in  the  true  old  Roman  manner :  in 
place  of  theological  maxims  and  pious  exhortations,  they 
took  a  purely  juridical  form  as  a  code  to  guide  judicial 
decisions.  The  earlier  literary  fraud  proceeded  from 
the  same  school,  if  not  from  the  same  man,  to  whom  we 
owe  the  corruption  of  the  Ignatian  Epistles.  The  fraud 
of  the  Western  Church  was  the  conscious  work  of  St. 
Boniface's  archbishopric,  pre-eminent  for  hereditary 
wisdom ;  invented  for  the  benefit  of  Rome,  it  was  cer- 
tain, in  any  case,  to  be  accredited  by  Rome. 

Forgive  me,  dear  friend,  this  apparently  learned  di- 
gression.    The  question  is  by  no  means  one  of  merely 

*  Hippolytus  and  his  Times.     Vol   iv.,    1852.     Comp.  my 
Analecta  Ante-Nicsena,  vol.  ii.^eliquiae  Canonicae.    Lond.  1854. 


96  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

historical  significance,  but  is  of  the  greatest  import  for 
our  own  days.  Eor  it  is  the  code  of  the  Decretals  to 
which  the  eulogists  and  successors  of  St.  Boniface  now 
appeal,  as  establishing  the  divine  rights  of  the  episcopate. 
Taking,  then,  the  widest  historical  survey,  what  do 
we  see  to  be  the  characteristic  feature  of  this  new-made 
system  of  Decretal  law?  That  it  pretends  to  uncon- 
ditional authority  over  the  individual,  as  well  as  over 
the  congregation  and  State.  This  episcopal  authority 
(which,  in  the  last  resort,  becomes  papal)  is  truly  des- 
potic, not  only  in  relation  to  the  parochial  clergy,  but 
also  in  relation  to  the  laity  and  the  State  itself,  and 
betrays  an  aspiration  to  universal  empire.  Originally 
intended  only  for  the  discipline  and  guidance  of  the 
clergy,  the  canon  law  has  gradually  become  the  su- 
preme code  of  an  ecclesiastical  corporation,  governing 
with  absolute  power,  and  itself  directed  by  an  absolute 
head,  the  Pope.  And  it  is  not  by  the  Canones  Apos- 
tolicae,  but  by  this  code,  that  the  hierarchy  governs — a 
code  which  not  only  leaves  the  laity  wholly  destitute  of 
rights  toward  the  Church,  but  even  places  the  State  in 
the  same  position  wherever  the  two  bodies  come  into 
collision.  Now  the  laity  is  neither  more  nor  less  than 
the  whole  Christian  people  organized  into  a  congrega- 
tion— the  State  is  the  Christian  magistracy  and  govern- 
ment ;  the  points  of  contact  between  the  clergy  and  the 
individual,  or  the  State,  may  be  summed  up  in  those 
three  institutions  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  all 
human  society — marriage,  education,  and  property; 
without  the  control  of  which  the  modern  State  would  be 
but  an  institution  of  police,  with  barracks,  shops,  and 
public-houses,  or,  at  the  best,  museums  and  picture- 
galleries — a  level  to  which  here  and  there  a  State  has 
really  sunk,  or  is  sinking. 


MODERN  CLAIMS  OF  THE  CANON  LAW.     97 

But  the  final  utterance  of  that  fraud,  and  of  the 
wLole  system  of  law  grounded  on  it,  is  precisely  what 
the  Bishop  of  Strasburg  says,  according  to  the  public 
prints,  in  his  sermon  on  the  tiara.  You  are  acquainted, 
my  honored  friend,  with  those  presumptuous  and  omin- 
ous words,  to  which  I  have  more  than  once  listened  my- 
self— I  mean  the  words  with  which  the  Dean  of  the 
College  of  Cardinals  places  the  tiara  on  the  Pope's 
head :  ''  Take  the  triple  crown,  and  know  that  thou  art 
King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords,  and  the  Vicegerent 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  on  earth !" 

No  pretension  was  ever  put  forth  in  a  more  naked 
and  unconditional,  not  to  say  horrible  and  blasphemous 
form.  The  power  of  such  pretensions  over  the  minds 
of  men  and  of  nations  lies  in  this — that  what  is  there 
said  is  as  true  of  humanity,  and  of  every  organized 
Christian  congregation  or  ecclesia  (if  we  remember  only 
that  what  is  divine  can  alone  be  rightfully  absolute  or 
unconditioned)  as  it  is  false  of  the  Pope,  or  of  any  other 
person  who  would  set  himself  in  the  place  of  the  congre- 
gation, or  of  believing  humanity,  that  he  may  briug  the 
latter,  which  is  God's  own  free  child,  into  slavery. 

Is  not  this,  indeed,  a  truly  apocalyptic  transforma- 
tion ?  "What  was  once  laid  down  for  itself  as  an  internal 
rule  of  conscience  by  the  free  Christian  congregation 
with  its  elders  and  bishop,  while  as  yet  unconnected 
with  the  State — what  had  the  force  within  the  congre- 
gation itself  of  a  free  law,  of  which  conscience  was  the 
sanction,  is  now  wielded,  according  to  this  code,  in  their 
own  behalf  as  the  ''  Church,"  and  against  the  Christian 
people  and  its  government  (therefore  against  the  whole 
civilized  world)  by  the  clergy,  organized  into  a  hierar- 
chy; and,  forsooth,  as  a  divine  right,  which  it  would 
be  godless  to  disobey.      The  individual  is  created  to 


98  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

obey  this  law  at  the  peril  of  h»  eternal  salvation ;  the 
State  is  bound  to  carry  it  into  execution  at  the  peril  of 
its  peace — ^nay,  of  its  existence.  The  secular  arm  is 
summoned  to  act  as  the  servant  of  the  clergy ;  should  it 
exert  its  own  rights  and  those  of  the  people,  even  for 
purely  Church  objects,  the  thunderbolt  of  excommuni- 
cation is  ready  to  paralyze  it — ^that  is,  if  there  is  the 
least  hope  that  the  bolt  will  kindle  a  flame  among  the 
people.  A  helping  hand  to  the  conflagration  is  never 
wanting. 

Contemplating  the  present  social  position  of  the 
world,  one  should  imagine  that  every  thoughtful  and 
well-intentioned  person  must  feel  the  complete  abolition 
of  the  claims  of  such  a  code,  resting,  as  it  does,  on  forg- 
eries, and  a  base  and  self-interested  deception,  to  be 
the  greatest  boon  to  all  classes  ;  and  that  the  clergy,  at 
least,  must  regard  it  as  most  desirable  for  themselves 
that  the  State  should  set  bounds  in  practice  to  such  pre- 
tensions. And  this  was,  in  fact,  the  prevalent  view, 
during  the  last  two  and  the  early  part  of  the  present 
century,  among  the  most  pious  and  enlightened,  as  well 
as  truly  patriotic  bishops  and  other  ecclesiastics  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  But  such  moderate  men, 
where  they  have  not  allowed  themselves  to  be  "con- 
verted," or  driven  by  the  coarse  domination  of  the 
bureaucracy  into  that  re-actionary  infection  from  which 
no  priest  is  safe,  are  now  called  infidel  and  servile.  The 
same  party  that  despises  Sailer  as  a  sentimental  weak- 
ling, pours  contempt  not  only  on  Febronius,*  but  even 

*  Frebonius's  real  name  was  Von  Hontheim ;  he  was  Suflfragan 
Bishop  of  Treves,  and  wrote  (about  1770)  a  defense  of  the  liber- 
ties of  the  German  Church  against  the  absolute  claims  of  Rome, 
on  behalf  of  the  three  spiritual  electors  of  Mayence,  Cologne,  and 
Treves. 


BISHOP   KETTELER'S  TRACT.  99 

on  Wessenberg,*  as  ignorant,  deluded  men,  traitors  to 
their  order,  and  slaves  to  princes.  However,  to  the  real 
advantage  of  that  hierarchy,  the  legal  limitations  of  its 
authority,  so  widely  desired,  were  introduced  into  all 
Catholic  States,  or  remained  untouched  where  they  al- 
ready existed,  up  to  the  year  1850. 

But  this  view  is  far  from  being  shared  by  that  gifted 
and  eloquent  prelate  who  invites  his  faithful  flock  to 
celebrate  the  Feast  of  St.  Boniface,  and  admonishes  us 
meanwhile  to  do  penance  for  the  murder  of  the  Mes- 
siah— ^that  is,  of  the  very  hierarchy  which  is  giving 
at  this  moment  such  characteristic  and  vigorous  signs 
of  life. 

As  before,  we  will  let  the  Bishop  speak  for  himself. 
Bishop  Ketteler  gives  us,  in  his  tract  of  last  year,  en- 
titled "The  Rights  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  Grermany, 
and  their  sanction;  with  particular  reference  to  the 
demands  of  the  Episcopate  of  the  Upper  Rhine,  and 
the  present  ecclesiastical  conflict,"  the  following  in- 
formation concerning  the  claims  of  the  bishops  upon 
the  State  : 

"  All  the  demands  of  the  bishops  may  be  reduced  to  four. 

"  First,  they  demand  the  right  of  educating  their  priests,  and 
jf)lacing  them,  without  interference ;  and  of  exercising  ecclesiastical 
discipline  over  the  priests  and  the  laity. 

"  Secondly,  of  possessing  and  founding  Catholic  schools. 

"  Thirdly,  of  directing  the  rehgious  life ;  that  is,  of  founding 
and  possessing  the  institutions  and  corporations  which  minister  to 
the  nourishment  of  that  life. 

*  Wessenberg,  a  very  learned,  pious,  and  highly  gifted  man,  is 
still  living:  at  the  beginning  of  this  century  he  was  Adminis- 
trator and  Sufiragan  Bishop  of  Constance,  where  he  introduced 
many  reforms,  which  were  all  condemned  by  the  Pope  in  1816. 
He  wrote  a  history  of  the  Council  of  Basle,  in  seven  volumes. 


100  .    SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

"  Fourthly,  of  the  entire  management  of  the  revenues  belong- 
ing to  the  Catholic  Church,  and  expressly  guarantied  by  the  peace 
of  Westphalia,  and  the  Final  Resolution  of  the  Committee  of  the 
Diet  in  1801."     (p.  40.) 

These  four  points  are  concise  and  pregnant,  and  are 
laid  down  quite  tranquilly  without  any  preface.  They 
almost  remind  one  of  the  customary  phrase  of  the 
Janissaries,  when  they  took  a  Christian  by  the  hair  to 
cut  his  head  off,  ''  Hold  still !  it  won't  hurt,"  Innocent 
as  they  look,  they  are  very  weighty,  and  cut  very  deeply 
into  the  life  of  the  people  and  of  the  State.  In  order 
to  estimate  the  whole  range  of  their  meaning,  and  to  keep 
at  the  same  time  on  the  ground  of  fact  and  the  present 
time,  let  us  first  seek  the  explanation  of  these  points  in 
the  fuller  manifesto  published  by  the  assembly  of  German 
Cardinals,  Bishops,  Apostolic  Vicars,  and  their  repre- 
sentatives, which  was  held  in  Wiirzburg  in  the  autumn 
of  the  fateful  year  1848.  The  short  statement  of  the 
Bishop  of  Mayence  in  1855,  so  innocently  put  forth, 
and  so  tranquilizing  in  sound,  evidently  rests  on  this 
document,  which  has  not  yet,  it  appears  to  me,  met  with 
the  attention  it  deserves.  It  has  been  repeated  in  es- 
sence by  the  Bishops  of  Bavaria  and  Austria,  and  has  a 
significance  far  transcending  the  boundaries  of  Germany. 
In  the  first  of  these  manifestoes  Bishop  Ketteler's  pre- 
decessor took  part,  and  he  himself  is  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  and  active  men  among  the  Bishops  of  Ger- 
many who  were  there  represented. 

This  remarkable  "Preliminary  Council  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church  in  Germany"  consisted  of  a  Cardinal- Arch- 
bishop of  Cologne,  five  Archbishops,  and  eighteen 
Bishops.     The  six  Archbishops  are  those  of- — 

Salzburg  and  Olmiitz,  in  Austria ; 

Bamberg  and  Munich-Freising,  in  Bavaria ; 


EPISCOPAL  DEMANDS.  IQl 

Freiburg,  in  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden ; 
Cologne,  in  Prussia. 

The  following  eighteen  Bishops  signed  the  manifesto, 
either  personally,  or  by  their  accredited  clerical  repre- 
sentatives : 

The  Bishop  of  Brixen,  in  Austria ; 

Those  of  Augsburg,  Passau,  Wiirzburg,  Ratisbon, 
Speier,  and  Eichstatt,  in  Bavaria  ; 

Culm,  Ermland,  Breslau,  Paderborn,  Munster,  and 
Treves,  in  Prussia ; 

Hildesheim  and  Osnabriick,  in  Hanover ; 

Rottenburg,  in  Wurtemberg ; 

Limburg,  in  Nassau  and  Frankfort ; 

Mayence,  for  Darmstadt ; 
to  whom  may  be  added  the  "Apostolic  Vicar  in  the 
kingdom  of  Saxony,  the  Bishop  of  Corycus,"  who  is  the 
successor  of  the  man  who  presumed  to  take  the  title  of 
Bishop  of  Meissen. 

The  manifesto  of  these  Bishops,  which  bears  the  title 
of  a  "Memorial,"  is  published  on  St.  Martin's  Day, 
the  11th  of  November,  and  addressed  to  governments 
and  peoples ;  the  general  address  to  the  clergy  and  the 
pastoral  letter  appeared  on  the  same  date,  and  with  the 
same  signatures. 

At  that  time  two  great  rights  had  been  proclaimed 
throughout  Germany,  namely — -freedom  of  association, 
and  the  right  of  every  religious  body  to  regulate  its 
own  affairs  without  external  interference.  These  the 
Bishops  now  claim  for  their  own  benefit,  and  declare 
that  they  will  suffer  the  generally  demanded  separation 
of  Church  and  State  to  take  place,  without  either 
wishing  or  fearing  it. 

Meanwhile  they  make  the  following  reserves  and 
declarations : 


102  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIME& 

"  1.  The  Concordats  offer  many  restraints  to  the  life  of  the 
Church ;  the  bishops  demand  their  alteration  by  the  State  in 
such  a  way  as  to  give  Hberty  to  the  Church. 

"  2.  All  Hmitation  of  the  episcopal  authority  not  already  stip- 
ulated in  the  Concordats,  they  once  for  all  refuse  to  admit. 

"  3.  They  claim  the  divine  right  of  the  instruction  and  educa- 
tion of  mankind,  in  which  sphere  the  Church  has,  in  all  ages, 
brought  to  pass  the  most  glorious  results." 

The  last  point  is  literally  expounded  as  follows : 

"  This  right  over  mankind  the  Church  can  never  renounce, 
without  renouncing  her  very  nature ;  and  it  is  the  natural  and 
necessary  consequence  of  this  right  that  she  should  be  free  to 
choose  and  determine  all  the  means  requisite  for  carrying  it  into 
execution,  such  as  the  individuals  and  corporations  appointed  to 
the  task  of  education  and  instruction,  as  well  as  the  school-books 
to  be  used ;  that,  in  particular,  she  should  be  wholly  and  entirely 
uncontrolled  in  the  process  of  training,  and  the  point  at  which 
she  pronounces  her  laborers  and  emissaries  ripe  for  her  great 
work  of  education,  as  also  in  their  employment,  superintendence, 
correction,  and,  if  necessary,  removal;  also,  that  it  must  rest 
with  the  Church  to  decide  what  bodies  and  corporations  are  to 
be  preserved  or  founded  for  this  end,  and  what  are  no  longer 
useful  or  admissible,  if  she  is  to  be  placed  in  the  full  enjoyment 
of  the  hberties  which  belong  to  her  as  the  guardian  of  morals, 
which  have  their  root  in  the  faith,  and  are  the  guaranties  of  all 
pubKc  law  and  order." 

The  exercise  of  these  liberties  is  more  nearly  defined 
as  follows : 

"  Unlimited  freedom  in  the  matter  and  mode  of  instruction,  with 
the  power  to  found  and  superintend  her  own  institutions  for  in- 
struction and  education,  are  claimed,  in  the  widest  sense  the 
terms  convey,  by  the  Church,  as  the  indispensable  means  without 
which  she  can  not  be  in  a  position  to  fulfill  her  divine  mission 
truly,  and  in  its  full  extent ;  and  she  must  regard  every  measure 
tending  to  limit  her  sphere  of  action  in  this  field  as  incompatible 
with  the  just  claims  of  the  Catholics  of  the  German  nation.'' 

Here,  my  honored  friend,  two  things  are  to  be 
remarked :  first,  that  nothing  can  satisfy  the  episcopate 


EPISCOPAL  DEMANDS.  103 

but  unlimited  freedom  of  instruction  and  the  establish- 
ment of  its  own  educational  institutions.  The  Bishops 
would  therefore  put  their  unlimited  rights  in  force  even 
in  the  public  schools ;  and  naturally  (as  w^e  shall  pres- 
ently find  them  expressly  stating)  lay  claim  to  the 
support  of  the  State  for  this  purpose.  They  have  un- 
limited rights ;  all  others,  nay,  the  State  itself,  have  in 
this  matter  only  unconditional  duties.  They  demand 
unlimited  freedom  to  arrange  affairs  in  accordance  with 
their  own  code,  and  make  this  demand  in  the  name  of 
God  and  justice. 

Secondly,  every  measure  not  in  accordance  with  this 
view  (and  up  to  the  present  time  no  national  law  in  the 
world,  not  even  that  of  the  United  States,  does  accord 
with  it)  is  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  the  nation,  in  so 
far  as  it  is  Catholic. 

At  the  present  time,  all  those  States  which  do  not 
exclude  religious  instruction  from  their  public  institu- 
tions, grant  to  the  bishops,  in  schools  of  mixed  denomin- 
ations, those  liberties  which  the  bishops  have  never 
granted  where  they  have  been  the  masters,  or  suffered 
others  to  grant  where  their  influence  has  been  predom- 
inant. 

Historically  viewed,  these  claims  are  the  claims  of  an 
ecclesiastical  corporation.  This  party  calls  them  the 
claims  of  the  Church,  and  represents  its  cause  to  be  that 
of  the  Catholic  people.  It  is  thus  represented  also  by 
the  bishops  assembled  in  Wtirzburg.  But  at  this  very 
time,  and  in  the  German  people  itself,  condemned  by 
this  constitution  to  be  but  the  passive  member  of  the 
Church  corporation,  many  truly  popular  and  unmis- 
takable voices  were  raised  against  such  an  identification 
of  its  rights  with  the  pretensions  of  the  episcopate. 

In  passing  from  the  discussion  of  the  general  schools 


104  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

to  those  institutions  already  existing,  or  to  be  hereafter 
established,  for  the  education  and  training  of  the  clergy, 
the  assembled  Bishops  start  by  demanding  the  unlimited 
right,  not  only  of  uncontrolled  superintendence  over 
both  these  classes  of  institutions,  but  also  of  ntanaging 
the  funds  belonging  to  them.  They  must  and  will 
possess  this  right  in  virtue  of  their  divine  mission. 
They  already  enjoy  it,  as  is  well  known,  in  all  German 
States  where  there  are  episcopal  seminaries  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  particularly  in  Prussia  and  Baden. 
But  the  manifesto  aims  at  absolute  unconditional  power, 
as  all  so-called  divine  rights  do.     It  says : 

"  The  Bishops  declare  that  the  participation  of  the  State  in  the 
preliminary  examination  of  those  destined  for  the  clerical  state^ 
before  their  reception  into  the  seminaries,  as  also  its  participation 
in  the  competitive  examination  for  appointment  to  parishes,  in- 
volves a  fundamental  limitation  of  the  liberties  of  the  Church,,  and 
an  infringement  of  the  rights  of  the  bishop." 

Hitherto  in  Germany  it  is  only  in  exceptional  cases 
(not  in  Prussia  for  instance)  that  the  State  has  claimed 
a  participation  in  the  examinations  prescribed  for  those 
who  are  candidates  for  parochial  cures.  But  in  all 
cases  the^bishops  are  free  to  give  or  withhold  the  ordin- 
ation of  priests,  as  they  think  right,  after  having  trained 
their  pupils  by  teachers  of  their  own  appointntent,  and 
under  their  own  exclusive  superintendence.  We  shall 
return  to  this  point  when  considering  the  Church  dis- 
putes in  Baden.  But  this  is  not  the  chief  point.  Shall 
the  bishops  be  able  to  receive  into  their  seminaries  mere 
boys,  wholly  ignorant  persons,  and  foreigners,  or  shall 
they  be  obliged  to  receive  only  such  as  have  been 
already  educated  at  the  gymnasia  and  universities? 
Yes,  my  friend,  the  object  is  to  set  aside  the  universities 
and  gymnasia;  supplying  the  place  of  the  former  by  the 


THE  BISHOPS  AND  EDUCATION.  105 

episcopal  seminaries,  and  the  latter  by  the  so-called 
minor  or  boy's  seminaries,  which  shall  furnish  a  supply 
of  ready  prepared  pupils  to  the  superior  institution.* 

As  long  as  gymnasia  and  universities  exist,  it  is  clear 
that  the  State  can  not  suffer  itself  to  be  deprived  of  the 
right  of  deciding  on  the  proficiency  requisite  for  those 
who  enter  them,  without  surrendering  its  very  being, 
and  with  it  its  duties  toward  the  individual  who  is  born 
a  man  and  a  citizen,  and  must  and  will  be  trained  as 
such.  Whoever  can  give  proof  that  he  has  acquired 
this  necessary  culture  in  his  own  country,  is  at  liberty, 
on  attaining  his  eighteenth  or  twentieth  year,  to  deter- 
mine on  becoming  a  priest.  Moreover  in  all  gymnasia 
and  lyceums,  the  Catholic  clergy  has  the  free  right  of 
religious  instruction  during  the  hours  set  apart  for  the 
purpose.  Lastly,  at  those  universities  which  have  a 
Catholic  faculty,  there  are  conventual  colleges  for  young 
men  who  wish  to  prepare  for  the  clerical  office,  where 
they  may  reside  together  under  the  special  superintend- 
ence of  a  spiritual  director. 

The  demand  for  a  certain  amount  of  liberty  in  the 
establishment  of  private  schools,  which  shall  be  prepar- 
atory to  the  gymnasia,  is  both  general  and  reasonable, 
and  has  been  more  or  less  conceded  wherever  constitu- 
tions exist — at  least  since  1840. 

But  whatever  liberty  may  be  allowed  in  the  establish- 
ment of  private  schools,  the  State  can  never  surrender 
its  right  and  its  duty  to  fix  a  certain  degree  of  culture 

*  The  difference  between  the  regulation  of  G-ermany  and  France 
(indeed,  all  the  Eomanic  nations)  in  this  respect,  is  most  lucidly 
exhibited  in  the  historical  and  juridical  analysis  of  the  Baden 
Church  disputes,  published  last  summer  by  Professor  Warnkonig, 
to  which  I  refer  my  readers ;  also  to  the  well-known  works  of 
Dupin  and  Gaudry,  and  the  Essay  by  Laboulaye,  in  Wolowski's 
Journal. 

5* 


106  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

which  must  be  attained.  Yet,  according  to  the  mani- 
festo, such  a  participation  is  as  contrary  to  the  divine 
right  of  the  episcopate,  as  a  State  system  of  education 
is  unknown  to  the  canon  law. 

For  the  same  reason  the  Government  can  never  suffer 
the  existence  of  corporations  and  corporate  rights  within 
the  State,  except  such  as  are  recognized  by  itself  On 
this  point,  too,  the  manifesto  protests,  and  once  more  in 
the  name  of  liberty ;  it  says  : 

"The  assembled  archbishops  and  bishops  demand,  on  behalf  of 
all  ecclesiastical  associations  of  men  and  women,  the  same  de- 
gree of  freedom  of  association  which  the  constitution  of  the  State 
^ants  to  all  its  citizens." 

This  practically  means,  as  is  proved  by  the  demands 
made  since  1850,  that  even  when  the  rest  of  the  citizens 
enjoy  no  such  freedom  of  association,  the  bishops  still 
lay  claim  to  it  for  themselves,  and  that  without  limita- 
tion. What  is  unconditioned  in  essence,  must  remain 
unlimited  in  practice. 

All  this  refers — like  Bishop  Ketteler's  first  three 
points — to  education.  But  now  the  manifesto  reaches 
the  subject  of  his  fourth  point — ^practically,  the  main 
point — Church  property.  What  is  Church  property? 
In  whom  do  the  rights  of  ownership  reside  ?  in  whom 
the  power  of  administration?  The  manifesto  says, 
Church  property  is  the  property  belonging  to  the  found- 
ations and  endowments ;  the  ownership  resides  alone  in 
the  one  Catholic  Church ;  the  uncontrolled  administra- 
tion resides  with  the  bishop.     Here  are  the  words : 

"  Finally :  the  Church  has  a  right  to  demand  that  the  revenues 
of  all  Catholic  foundations  and  endowments  should  enjoy,  as  her 
lawfully  acquired  property,  held  by  legal  titles,  the  same  pro- 
tection from  all  arbitrary  encroachments  as  that  of  every  citizen 
or  civil  association ;  and  that  she  shall  be  equally  free  and  inde- 


NATURE  OF  CHURCH  PROPERTY.      107 

pendent  in  the  use  and  administration  of  it.  These  revenues, 
everywhere  set  apart  solely  for  the  objects  of  the  Church,  and 
guarantied  by  the  archives  of  foundations  reaching  back,  in  many 
cases,  for  several  centuries,  are  the  property  of  the  one  Cathohc 
Church  corporation,  which  must  be  recognized  as  the  sole  de- 
positary of  all  legal  rights  with  regard  to  them ;  and,  if  right  and 
justice  are  still  sacred  to  the  princes  and  people  of  Germany,  and 
have  not  become  empty  words,  this  property  must,  under  all 
circumstances,  enjoy  the  same  protection  as  that  of  every  other 
association,  the  inviolability  of  which  is  secured  in  all  countries 
where  pubKc  and  civil  order  truly  exist." 

The  assembled  archbishops  and  bishops  omit  to  pro- 
duce the  proof  and  legal  demonstration  of  these  rights ; 
but  Bishop  Ketteler,  in  his  last  controversial  tract,  en- 
deavors to  supply  the  deficiency. 

The  famous  ''  Recess''  of  the  old  German  Empire  of 
1803,  says  the  Bishop,  confers  this  right  on  the  epis- 
copate. We  might  urge  the  propriety  of  taking  into 
account  the  dissolution  of  the  German  Empire  in  1805 
— the  rights  conferred  since  then — the  constitutions 
to  which  oaths  have  been  taken— the  regulations  that 
have  been  passed ;  but  we  will  rather  quote  the  article 
adduced  by  the  Bishop  himself,  from  the  "Final  Reso- 
lution of  the  Committee  of  the  Diet."  {§  62)  : 

"  Every  religion  shall  bo  secured  in  the  possession  and  undis- 
turbed enjoyment  of  its  own  Church  property  and  educational 
funds,  according  to  the  prescriptions  of  the  Peace  of  WestphaUa." " 

I  read  nothing  here  of  the  divine  rights  of  the  epis- 
copate ;  "  every  religion"  signifies  in  law  every  religious 
association.  But  the  same  document  does  indeed  say 
{§§  34  and  61)  : 

"All  cathedral  chapters  shall  be  incorporated  with  the  de- 
mesnes of  the  bishops,  and  pass  with  the  bishoprics  to  the  princes 
to  whom  the  latter  are  assigned ;  all  royalties  and  capitular  estates 
shall  fall  to  the  new  sovereign  of  the  country." 


108  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Shall  we  then  call  upon  the  Emperor  of  Austria  for 
his  '^  intervention"  in  Baden  or  Prussia,  as  is  openly 
done  by  the  "  Deutsche  Volkshalle,"*  which  appears  in 
Cologne  ?  and  is  kindly  proposed  in  both  these  countries, 
as  we  learn  from  the  newspapers,  by  certain  vagabond 
meddlers  who  have  the  impudence  to  give  themselves 
out  for  Austrian  agents  ?  No,  we  will  leave  these  birds 
of  ill  omen — these  apostles  of  darkness — to  the  universal 
contempt  in  which  they  are  held  by  the  people,  whether 
Catholic  or  Protestant,  and  the  just  anger  of  the  gov- 
ernments. 

Or,  finding  this  legal  basis  no  longer  tenable  after  the 
dissolution  of  the  German  Empire  in  1805,  shall  we  go 
back  to  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  in  1648,  and,  with 
Bishop  Ketteler  and  the  juristical  champion  of  this 
party,  Baron  Von  Linde,  summon  the  guaranties  of  that 
treaty  to  adjust  our  dispute,  and  thus  call  both  the 
French  and  Russians  at  once  into  our  poor  country? 
No :  but  we  will  take  good  heed  to  these  fearful  words. 

The  concluding  words  of  the  manifesto  speak,  not 
only  of  "the  full  enjoyment  of  true  liberty,"  but  of  the 
German  character,  ''whose  loyalty  is  proverbial."  We 
leave  it  to  Bishop  Ketteler  to  say,  if  he  would  tell  us 
the  truth  on  this  point,  whether  this  betrays  a  change 
in  opinion,  or  only  in  the  circumstances  of  the  case. 
Was  it  thought  necessary  to  be  more  courteous  in  1848 
than  in  1855  ?  or  has  not  the  good  sense  and  right  feel- 
ing shown  by  the  Catholic  population  in  the  Church  dis- 

*  This  paper  has  been  supressed,  since  the  date  of  this  letter, 
by  the  Prussian  Government,  to  the  sorrow  of  the  really  liberal 
party  who  desire  the  freedom  of  the  press,  notwithstanding  their 
dislike  of  the  paper  itself,  which  was  an  Ultramontane  organ, 
mostly  carried  on  and  paid  for  by  the  Austrian  Government,  and 
maintaining  a  more  or  less  open  war  with  Prussia.— TV, 


ULTRAMONTANE  PATRIOTISM.  109 

putes  of  the  last  few  years  fulfilled  the  hopes  that  were 
placed  in  the  German  conscience  ?  And  have  the  Ger- 
mans thus  first  become  worthy  to  be  stigmatized  as  mur- 
derers of  the  Messiah,  and  to  be  oflfered  up  on  the  grave 
of  St.  Boniface  by  an  arrogant  priest  ?  We  have  al- 
ready termed  the  Baden  Church  difficulties  the  practical 
commentary  on  the  manifesto  of  the  bishops  ;  we  must 
now  look  more  closely  into  this  remarkable  occurrence. 
Let  it  be  the  subject  of  our  next  letter. 


LETTER    V. 

THE  HISTORY  OP  THE  DISPUTE  BETWEEN  THE  CHURCH 
AND  GOVERNMENT  IN  BADEN,  FROM  ITS  COM- 
MENCEMENT  IN   1853   UP  TO   THE   PRESENT   TIME. 

Charlottenbero,  June  25th,  1855. 

My  Dear  Friend, 

No  doubt,  when  reading  the  manifesto  we  dis- 
cussed in  our  last  letter,  it  did  not  escape  you  that  this 
document  expresses  a  fixed  resolve  to  seize  the  earliest 
opportunity  that  may  arise  of  carrying  into  effect  the 
principles  there  solemnly  laid  down. 

Such  an  opportunity  presented  itself  in  Baden,  a 
country  apparently  offering  peculiar  advantages  to  the 
attempt.  It  is  a  small  State  that  has  passed  through 
many  vicissitudes,  and  is  exposed  on  all  sides  to  the 
action  of  the  conflicting  tendencies  of  the  age.  Of  its 
nearly  a  million  and  a  half  of  inhabitants,  not  much  less 
than  two-thirds  (900,000)  are  Catholics.  The  larger 
portion  of  the  territory,  the  Brisgau,  with  its  capital, 
Fribourg,  was  transferred  from  Austria  to  Baden  only 
in  the  year  1804,  bringing  with  it  a  large  accession  to 
the  Catholic  population — as  had  been  the  case  somewhat 
earlier  with  the  provinces  of  ^Spire.  The  southern  ex- 
tremity of  Baden  had  previously  belonged  to  the  Prince- 
Bishop  of  Constance.  In  the  beginning  of  this  century, 
the  unwearied  exertions  and  the  pious  wisdom  of  Wes- 


REFORMS  IN  SOUTH  GERMANY.  m 

senberg,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  German  pre- 
lates, had  made  this  see  the  focus  whence  an  improved 
education  of  the  clergy,  coupled  with  a  spirit  of  religious 
earnestness,  had  been  diflfused  over  the  neighboring  dis- 
tricts. Many  reforms  were  introduced ;  public  worship 
was  held,  as  far  as  it  was  practical,  in  the  German  lan- 
guage ;  the  clergy  openly  aspired  toward  a  higher  men- 
tal culture,  joining  with  their  intellectual  aspirations  a 
high  moral  tone,  and  exerted  themselves  in  a  truly  pat- 
riotic and  Christian  manner  for  the  moral  and  religious 
education  of  the  people.  On  the  return  of  Pius  VIII. 
to  Rome,  the  leaders  of  this  movement,  and  especially 
the  excellent  administrator  of  the  see,  were  exposed  to 
most  violent  attacks  on  the  part  of  the  Ultramontanists. 
Since  the  scheme  proposed  in  Vienna  for  a  Catholic 
National  Church,  in  which  all  the  German  Bishops 
should  agree  upon  the  attitude  they  should,  in  common, 
assume  toward  Rome,  had  found  no  encouragement  at 
the  hands  of  the  Austrian  Government,  and  Prussia 
likewise  showed  no  interest  in  the  question,  the  Govern- 
ments of  South  Germany  united  together  to  enter  into 
a  joint  convention  with  Rome,  by  virtue  of  which  the 
Upper  Rhine  should  be  constituted  into  an  ecclesiastical 
province,  of  which  the  Archbishop  of  Fribourg  should 
be  the  metropolitan. 

The  States  which  composed  this  Union  were  Wurtem- 
berg,  represented  by  the  Bishop  of  Rottenburg;  the 
Electorate  of  Hesse,  by  Fulda ;  Darmstadt,  by  May- 
ence ;  Nassau  and  Frankfort,  by  Limburg.  So  early 
as  1821,  their  negotiations  issued  in  a  convention  with 
Rome,  which,  in  1827,  the  Pope  announced  by  a  second 
bull,  and  which  was  published  throughout  the  five 
States  which  took  part  in  it,  with  the  necessary  regula- 
tions.    But,  as  usual,  the  execution  of  the  treaty  gave 


112  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

rise  to  protests  and  collisions.  The  Governments  had 
published  the  papal  edicts  with  the  customary  reserva- 
tions, and  had  regulated  the  mode  in  which  they  were 
to  be  carried  out  by  the  ordinance  of  the  30th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1830,  in  which  they  exactly  copied  the  example 
set  by  Napoleon  with  regard  to  the  Concordat  oT  1801. 
In  the  course  of  the  same  year  the  Pope  entered  a  pro- 
test against  such  an  interpretation  of  his  measures,  just 
as  his  predecessor  had  protested  against  the  organic  ar- 
ticles of  Napoleon.  Notwithstanding  these  difficulties, 
the  newly-formed  ecclesiastical  province  flourished  under 
the  protection  of  the  civil  constitutions  bestowed  by  the 
sovereigns  of  the  States  composing  it,  and  with  the  aid 
of  the  savings  from  the  ecclesiastical  revenues  which  the 
Governments  conscientiously  laid  by.  The  people  en- 
joyed with  gratitude  the  advantages  of  the  foundations 
originally  made  for  the  public  benefit ;  and  the  clergy 
rose  daily  in  mental  culture  and  in  general  esteem. 
The  Archbishop  lived  in  peace  with  the  University  of 
Fribourg,  between  which  and  the  seminaries  for  the 
training  of  priests  Joseph  II.  had  established  an  organic 
connection,  on  terms  harmonizing  with  the  state  of  edu- 
cation and  learning  in  Germany.  For,  as  we  have  said, 
it  is  entirely  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  the  German  people, 
that  children  and  boys,  who  have  no  knowledge  of  them- 
selves or  of  human  life,  should  be  separated  from  the 
world  from  their  earliest  years,  and  set  apart  to  be  edu- 
cated, or  rather  broken  in,  for  the  priesthood.  It  is 
true  that  the  boys  are  not  compelled  to  become  priests 
on  leaving  the  seminaries  ;  but  drilled  as  they  are,  what 
else  are  they  fit  for  ?  Besides,  the  majority  are  utterly 
penniless,  and  who  will  give  them  the  means  to  make 
up  for  lost  time  ?  According  to  German  views  of  hu- 
man justice  and  Divine  laws,  however,  these  children 


MEMORIAL  OF  THE  BISHOPS.  Hg 

and  boys  have  a  double  claim  to  protection  against  such 
arbitrary  and  unnatural  treatment :  in  the  first  place, 
as  citizens ;  and  in  the  second,  as  men — a  still  higher 
claim,  because  of  immediately  Divine  origin. 

With  regulations  based  on  these  principles,  there 
has  been  generally  no  lack  of  servants  of  the  altar  in 
the  Catholic  Church,  at  least  before  the  unfurling  of 
the  new  Ultramontane  banner  frightened  away  the 
young  men.  The  parochial  clergy  who  proceeded  from 
our  great  episcopal  seminaries  were  a  very  different 
class  from  those  whom  we  see  in  France,  Italy,  Spain, 
and  Portugal ;  they  counted  members  from  the  middle ' 
and  upper  ranks  of  society,  and  the  Catholic  clergy  and 
professors  were  equal,  or  not  much  inferior,  to  the 
Protestant  in  mental  culture  and  social  position.  More- 
over, up  to  the  date  of  which  we  are  speaking,  the 
Bishops  of  the  Upper  Rhine  province  were,  on  their 
side,  satisfied  with  this  arrangement,  and  with  the  other 
articles  of  the  convention.  When,  at  a  later  period, 
complaints  arose  of  the  continually  increasing  deficiency 
of  candidates  for  the  priesthood,  the  Government  of 
Baden,  at  the  request  of  the  bishops,  consented  to  mod- 
ify its  regulations,  and  even  declared  itself  willing  to 
place  at  once  such  Catholic  pupils  of  the  lyceums  as 
might  express  a  desire  to  devote  themselves  to  the  cler- 
ical profession,  under  episcopal  superintendence,  and 
allow  them  to  enter  on  a  secluded  life.  Then  came  the 
year  1848,  with  its  universal  commotion,  and  the 
bloody  insurrection  of  the  republicans  in  Baden,  which 
raged  more  especially  in  the  district  of  Eribourg. 

In  1851,  the  third  year  after  the  publication  of  the 
Wiirzburg  manifesto,  the  five  bishops  above  mentioned 
handed  in  to  their  respective  Governments  a  memorial, 
in   which   they   petitioned   for    "the   freedom   of  the 


114  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Church,"  in  the  sense  attached  to  those  terms  by  the 
manifesto.  The  Governments  replied  by  a  general  order 
of  the  first  of  March,  1853 ;  to  which  each  of  the  Gov- 
ernments concerned  appended  some  special  stipulations 
aflfecting  their  own  bishops,  by  edicts  dating  from  the 
2d  to  the  5th  of  March,  1853.  With  this  began  the 
contest.  As  a  Protestant,  I  think  it  best  to  refrain 
from  giving  my  own  statement  of  the  facts  with  regard 
to  events  which  have  given  rise  to  such  hot  dispute,  and 
whose  issue  is  not  very  apparent.  But  after  having 
read  nearly  every  thing  that  has  been  published  on  both 
sides  about  this  controversy,*  I  find  nothing  that  de- 
serves the  name  of  a  concise,  connected,  juridical  treat- 
ise on  the  subject,  but  the  luminous  and  strictly  impar- 
tial narrative  given  by  Professor  Warnkcinig,  one  of  the 
ablest  Catholic  canonists  of  Germany  and  of  Europe.  I 
therefore  proceed  to  lay  before  you  an  extract  from  his 
pamphlet,  relating  to  the  first  decisive  steps  taken  by 
the  belligerent  parties,  and  their  consequences  up  to  the 
summer  of  1854,  referring  those  who  may  wish  to  learn 
M.  Warnkonig's  views  as  to  the  proper  merits  of  the 
question  to  Appendix  A.  Another  account,  given  in 
Deutsche  Vierteljahrschift  for  1854,  is  written  with 
great  talent,  and  goes  into  full  details,  but  is  very  one- 
sided, and  expressly  written  from  a  party  point  of  view. 

*  A  complete  and  thoroughly  historical  review  of  above  thirty 
publications  on  this  subject,  deserving  notice,  will  be  found  in 
Schletter's  "Jahrbiichem  der  deutschen  Rechtswissenschaft,"  i. 
bd.,  3  heft  (July,  1855),  from  the  hand  of  Professor  Warnkonig. 
Other  facts  njentioned  in  the  text  are  derived  from  a  very  ably 
written  reply  to  Hirscher's  pamphlet,  entitled,  "  Zur  Orientirung 
iiber  den  derzeitigen  Kirchenstreit,"  after  I  had  ascertained  the 
reliableness  of  this  work  by  a  reference  to  documentary  evidence. 
Its  title  is  "  Das  Reich  Gottes  und  Staat  und  Kirche."  Jena, 
1854. 


DEMANDS  OF  THE  BISHOPS.  115 


DEMANDS  OF  THE  BISHOPS. 

"  The  Episcopate  demands  a  radical  reform  of  the  existing 
order  of  things,  and  claims  the  complete  restitution  of  all  those 
rights  which  it  asserts  to  belong  to  itself,  according  to  the  consti- 
tution of  the  CathoUc  Church,  the  canon  law,  or  the  conventions 
which  have  been  concluded  with  the  Pope. 

"  It  demands  in  particular : 

"  I.  That  the  right  of  coUation  to  all  the  ecclesiastical  benefices, 
and  of  nomination  to  every  function  or  employment  within  the 
bosom  of  the  Church,  should  belong  to  the  Bishop ;  except  in 
those  cases  where  some  other  person,  whether  the  sovereign  or  a 
private  individual,  has  acquired  the  right  of  patronage  according 
to  the  canon  law.  It  does  not  recognize  this  right  as  belonging 
to  the  sovereign  as  such,  and  does  not  consider  the  secularization 
of  the  property  of  those  religious  corporations  which  formerly 
possessed  the  right  of  appointing  to  the  livings  of  the  incorporated 
parishes,  a  title  which  could  give  the  sovereign  the  right  of  pat- 
ronage. It  requires  that  its  own  nominations  should  be  valid, 
without  being  approved  or  confirmed  by  the  head  of  the  State, 
and  that  the  nomination  of  a  pastor  by  the  Bishop  should  insure 
his  recognition  and  protection  in  all  the  prerogatives  appertaining 
to  his  charge  and  his  dignity. 

"  n.  As  a  consequence  of  this  principle,  that  the  Bishop  alone 
can  confer  benefices  and  ecclesiastical  dignities,  the  Episcopate 
demands  not  only  that  the  sovereign  should  not  enjoy  the  right 
of  examining  candidates  for  reception  into  the  seminaries,  or 
those  candidates  who  compete  for  parochial  cures,  but  also  that 
he  should  be  excluded  from  any  participation  whatever  in  the 
examinations,  that  he  should  not  be  represented  in  them  by 
delegates,  and,  above  all,  that  he  should  not  have  the  prerogative 
claimed  by  the  Governments  in  March  1852,  of  giving  a  vote  on 
the  capacity  of  the  candidates  examined. 

"  III.  For  the  same  reasons  the  Bishops  claim  the  immediate 
direction  of  all  ecclesiastical  schools,  and  the  establishment  of 
seminaries  conformable  to  the  prescriptions  of  the  Council  of 
Trent ;  they  require  that  the  professors  of  theology  in  the  uni- 
versities should  be  appointed  only  in  accordance  with  their  ad- 


116  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

vice,  and  that  the  professors  themselves,  as  well  as  then:  instruc- 
tion, should  be  subject  to  their  immediate  supervision.  They 
further  demand  the  sole  right  of  conferring  the  clerical  title,  or  of 
sustentation,  and  therefore  of  disposing  of  the  funds  appropriated 
to  this  object,  and  even  of  conferring  orders  without  the  neces- 
sity of  such  sustentation. 

''  IV.  The  episcopate  further  claims  the  complete  and  entire 
abolition  of  the  right  of  placet,  and  of  the  recourse  to  another 
tribunal  in  case  of  abuse ;  or  of  appeal  against  its  decisions  to 
the  civil  authorities,  except  in  cases  where  there  was  a  usurpa- 
tion of  civil  functions  on  the  part  of  the  clergy.  It  claims, 
moreover,  the  free  exercise  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  civil  as 
well  as  penal,  secundum  canones  adhuc  vigentes  et  prcesentem 
ecclesice  discipUnam,  and  it  exacts  from  the  Government  the 
execution  of  its  sentences — therefore  the  right  of  deposing,  sus- 
pending, and  removing  priests  at  its  own  plea  ure,  without  any 
inquiry  on  the  part  of  the  civil  authority  into  the  regularity  of 
the  proceeding. 

"  V.  The  Bishops  next  claim  full  and  entire  liberty  of  wor- 
ship, even  with  regard  to  the  acts  not  considered  necessary 
to  salvation ;  and,  consequently,  the  right  of  commanding  mis- 
sions, processions,  and  solemn  pilgrimages,  and  of  estabhsh- 
ing  confraternities,  congregations  and  convents,  and  monastic 
orders,  without  any  preliminary  authorization  from  the  Grov- 
ernment. 

"  VI.  They  claim  not  only  the  exclusive  direction  of  religious 
instruction  in  the  primary  schools,  colleges,  or  lyceums,  as  well 
as  the  right  of  appointing  the  professors,  but  also  that  of  watch- 
ing over  and  even  directing  the  secular  instruction  there  given, 
and  of  dismissing  those  professors  who  no  longer  enjoy  their 
confidence  ;  lastly,  they  demand  the  abolition  of  all  mixed 
schools,  that  is,  of  such  as  are  intended  for  the  simult3.neous 
instruction  of  children  of  different  confessions,  in  order  that 
children  of  the  Catholic  religion  may  be  instructed  in  exclusively 
Cathohc  schools. 

"  VII.  The  Episcopate  demand  full  power  to  pronounce  sen- 
tence of  excommunication,'  major  as  well  as  minor,  on  every 
person,  whether  priest  or  laic,  who  may  have  incurred  this 
penalty. 

"  VIII.  Finally,  it  claims  the  free  and  exclusive  administration 


OPPOSITE  VIEWS.  117 

of  all  Church  property,  without  the  control  exercised  up  to  the 
present  time  by  the  State — consequently,  the  aboUtion  of  all 
the  rules  of  administration  established  by  the  Government.  It 
is,  above  all,  the  general  ecclesiastical  funds  of  which  the  Bishops 
desire  to  have  free  disposal,  without  any  authorization  whatever 
from  the  civil  power,  and  conformably  to  what  is  prescribed  in 
the  canon  law. 

"In  this  memorial,  the  question  of  mixed  marriages  is  not 
treated ;  the  Episcopate  having  for  many  years  past  enforced  the 
papal  Edicts  on  this  point ;  and  considering  civil  legislation  as 
null  and  void  on  all  points  where  it  contradicts  these  Edicts,  it 
has  not  been  thought  necessary  to  demand  its  abrogation. 

"  If  we  compare  the  governmental  system  exhibited  above 
with  the  demands  of  the  Bishops,  it  is  easy  to  perceive  that  they 
rest  upon  such  different  modes  of  looking  at  the  subject,  that 
there  exists  between  them  an  absolute  contradiction.  According 
to  the  principles  of  the  Government^  the  Church  can  not  claim 
from  the  State  any  rights  but  those  which  the  latter  is  willing  to 
accord  to  it ;  the  greater  part  of  these  rights  appear  to  the  State 
a  simple  concession  on  its  own  part,  and  it  considers  that  it  has 
the  right  to  refuse  to  the  Bishops  more  important  privileges,  such 
as  that  of  conferring  ecclesiastical  benifices,  of  examining  the  can- 
didates in  theology  and  for  parochial  charges,  and  of  managing 
the  central  ecclesiastical  fund ;  while  the  Bishops  on  their  side 
claim  all  these  rights  as  belonging  to  them  exclusively,  or  at  least 
as  prerogatives  which  the  State  can  not  make  dependent  on  condi- 
tions dictated  by  itself,  nor  circumscribe  within  certain  limits; 
they  even  declare  the  greater  part  of  these  rights  so  inherent  in 
the  episcopal  dignity  and  functions,  that  they  do  not  think  them- 
selves authorized  to  renounce  them,  or  to  allow  the  civH  power 
to  meddle  with  them.  In  short,  it  is  the  most  absolute  and  the 
most  frankly  expressed  Ultramontane  system  which  the  Bishops 
of  the  Upper  Rhine  wish  to  see  carried  into  practice,  utterly 
regardless  whether  the  State  recognize  it  or  not.  Hence  the 
Archbishop  of  Fribourg  thought  himself  at  Hberty  ix>  take  pos- 
session of  a  part  of  these  rights  by  his  own  authority,  and  by 
practically  exerting  them ;  while  the  Governments  feared  to  ab- 
dicate a  part  of  their  sovereignty  by  allowing  such  a  state  of 
tMngs  to  be  tacitly  introduced. 

"  The  Qtjvernments  had  modified  the  ordinance  of  the  30th 


118  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

of  January,  1830,  partly  by  another  ordinance  drawn  up  by 
their  mutual  consent,  partly  by  a  ministerial  explanation  of 
the  2d  to  the  5th  of  March,  1853.  But  these  modifications 
did  not  meet  all  the  demands  of  the  Bishops ;  many  demands 
had  been  rejected,  and  the  principles  of  the  old  ordinance 
maintained ;  the  Bishops  therefore  declared  that  they  were  not 
satisfied  by  the  concessions  which  they  had  just  obtained.  We 
will  enumerate  the  most  essential  changes  which  had  now  been 
decreed : 

"I.  All  Papal  Bulls  or  Briefs,  the  general  ordinances  of  the 
Bishops  and  other  ecclesiastical  authorities,  as  well  as  the  decrees 
of  the  Synods,  may  be  published  and  enforced  without  the  placet, 
except  when  they  impose  obligations  which  are  not  within  the 
sphere  of  the  Church,  or  have  reference  to  public  or  civil  affairs. 
As  to  the  rest,  which  are  of  a  purely  spiritual  character,  it  is  only 
necessary  that  the  Government  should  be  previously  advertised 
of  them. 

"II.  Free  liberty  of  communication  with  Kome  is  accorded 
to  every  one  who  may  wish  to  exercise  it,  but  without 
prejudice  to  the  hierarchical  order  of  the  ecclesiastical  authori- 
ties. 

"  III.  Theological  studies  must  be  conducted  by  a  faculty  of 
theology  forming  part  of  the  G-overnment  Universities. 

"  IV.  Theological  candidates  shall  not  be  admitted  to  receive 
holy  orders,  or  to  enjoy  the  clerical  title,  until  they  have  suc- 
cessfully passed  an  examination  by  the  episcopal  commission, 
who  shall  be  assisted  by  a  Government  Commissioner;  the 
latter  shall  have  the  power  of  a  suspensive  veto,  when  the 
case  must  be  referred  to  the  board  of  public  worship,  with 
whom  lies  the  ultimate  decision  on  the  admission  of  the  sus- 
pended candidate. 

"  V.  The  right  of  free  nomination  to  the  livings  which  may  fall 
vacant  in  the  months  of  July  and  December,  is  granted  to  the 
Bishops  and  to  the  Archbishop  of  Fribourg. 

"  VI.  The  Bishop  has  the  right  of  immediate  supervision  over 
the  establishments  of  public  instruction  for  persons  intending  to 
become  priests ;  the  professors,  and  the  directors  of  the  boarding- 
houses  connected  with  these  establishments,  can  not  be  appointed 
without  his  consent. 

"  VII.  The  Bishop  nominates  the  rural  deans,  but  they  can  not 


CONCESSIONS  OF  THE  GOVERNMENTS.  119 

enter  on  their  functions  until  their  appointment  has  been  con- 
firmed by  the  Government. 

"VIII.  The  Governments  recognize  the  episcopal  right  to 
award  the  customary  penalties  to  priests  guilty  of  some  fault ;  if, 
however,  the  sentence  involve  civil  consequences,  such  as  the  loss 
of  the  benefice,  etc.,  it  is  necessary  that  it  should  have  been  pro- 
nounced by  a  duly  organized  tribunal,  assisted  by  a  jurisconsult. 
The  verdict  must  be  arrived  at  by  a  proceeding  conformable  to 
law,  and  the  condenmed  person  is  at  liberty  to  appeal  to 
the  civil  authority ;  if  he  does  not  make  use  of  this  privilege, 
or  if  the  civil  authority  decides  that  there  is  no  reason  to  reverse  * 
the  sentence,  the  execution  of  it  is  committed  to  the  secular 
arm. 

"  IX.  The  Governments  recognize  the  episcopal  right  of  ex- 
communication, but  excommunication  can  have  no  civil  conse- 
quences, and  gives  a  right  of  appeal  as  for  an  abuse  of  authority 
when  pronounced  for  any  acts  not  of  a  religious  nature. 

"  The  reforms  refused  by  the  Governments  concern,  among 
other  things,  the  erection  of  the  minor  seminaries  prescribed  by 
the  Council  of  Trent,  but  which  do  not  exist  in  Germany,  and 
are  rendered  superfluous  there  by  the  secondary  schools  and 
existing  colleges ;  also  minions,  solemn  pilgrimages,  and  the 
founding  of  convents  without  the  preliminary  authorization  of 
the  State ;  the  superintendence  and  control  of  secular  instruction 
by  the  Bishop,  or  of  the  theological  professors  appointed  by 
Government  in  the  national  universities.  Finally,  the  existing 
laws  with  regard  to  Church  property  and  foundations  are  main- 
tained ;  and  the  Governments  declare  their  resolve  to  keep  the 
administration  of  the  central  ecclesiastical  fund  created  by  them- 
selves in  their  own  hands,  although  augmented  by  the  revenues 
of  the  vacant  benefices.  The  Bishops  must  be  satisfied  with 
having  the  right  of  consent  to  the  employment  of  this  fund,  etc. 
They  conclude  by  promising  the  Bishops  that  whenever  they 
demand  some  amelioration  on  behalf  of  the  common  welfare  of 
the  Church,  the  Governments  will  be  always  ready  to  comply 
with  their  wishes,  provided  only  that  they  are  compatible  witli 
the  modem  order  of  society  and  the  laws  of  the  State." 


120  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 


II. 

ACTS  OF  mSURRECTION  ON  THE  PART  OF  THE 
BISHOPS  AGAINST  THE  GOVERNMENTS,  AND 
PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  LATTER. 

"  The  Bishops  were  not  slow  in  carrying  out  their  threats  and 
taking  possession  of  the  rights  which  the  Governments  continued 
to  dispute.  They  made  choice  of  two  methods  for  attaining 
their  end.  At  first  they  refused  to  take  part  in  those  acts  of  the 
ecclesiastical  administration,  which,  by  the  ordinances  then  in 
force,  required  the  co-operation  of  the  clergy  and  the  Govern- 
ment, or  they  did  not  carry  out  those  orders  of  the  Government 
which  they  regarded  as  contrary  to  their  rights.  This  kind  of 
passive  resistance  had  already  begun  at  the  time  of  the  revolu- 
tionary movement  of  March,  1848.  The  Bishop  of  Rottenburg 
had  then  refused  to  take  part  in  the  nomination  of  the  rural 
deans,  and  to  send  a  commissioner  to  the  examination  to  be 
passed  in  Stuttgardt  by  the  priests  who  were  candidates  for  liv- 
ings. Soon  afterward  the  whole  Episcopate  went  further;  it 
refused  canonical  institution  to  the  pastors  appointed  by  the 
head  of  the  State  as  such,  and  ne  longer  recognized  as  bind- 
ing those  orders  of  the  board  of  public  worship  which  ap- 
peared to  it  to  encroach  on  the  episcopal  prerogatives  or  juris- 
diction. 

"  At  last  the  Archbishop  of  Fribourg,  and  subsequently  the 
Bishop  of  Limburg,  passed  from  passive  disobedience  to  active 
resistance.* 

"  They  appointed  pastors  to  the  vacant  parishes  in  virtue  of 
their  pontifical  power.  The  Archbishop  gave  to  a  certain  person 
power  of  attorney,  with  the  right  of  representing  him  within  the 
chapter  itself,  without  giving  notice  of  what  he  had  done  to  the 
Government ;  he  no  longer  requested  permission  from  Govern- 
ment to  publish  his  decrees,  or  to  execute  any  acts  of  his  juris- 
diction whatever.  He  caused  the  preliminary  examinations  before 
reception  into  the  seminaries  to  be  carried  on  in  his  own  name, 

*  An  apologetic  letter  of  the  Archbishop,  published  at  Mayence, 
represents  all  these  acts  as  implying  merely  a  passive  resistance. 
This  is  really  too  naive. 


CONDUCT  OP  THE  ARCHBISHOP.  121 

and  refused  to  admit  to  them  the  civil  commissioner;  in  a  word, 
he  placed  himself  above  the  ordinances  legally  sanctioned  by- 
Government,  and  which  he  and  his  predecessors  had  hitherto 
always  respected  and  obeyed.  Finally,  on  the  5th  of  August, 
1853,  he  entered  into  correspondence  with  the  members,  lay  as 
well  as  ecclesiastical,  of  the  board  of  Catholic  worship  at  Carls- 
ruhe,  for  the  purpose  of  inducing  them  to  resign  then*  places,  as 
obUging  them  to  exercise  functions  incompatible  with  the  duties 
of  a  Catholic  Christian.  Not  one  of  them  having  acceded  to  his 
proposal,  he  launched  against  them  a  sentence  of  excommunica- 
tion, which  was  personally  signified  to  each  of  them  on  the  20th 
of  October,  1853.  Thus  he  came  to  an  open  rupture  with  the 
Government,  and  war  was  declared. 

"  The  Government  of  Baden  found  itself  obliged  to  make  re- 
prisals in  order  to  maintain  the  laws  actually  in  force,  and  to 
make  its  own  authority  respected.  In  the  first  instance  it  chose 
the  least  severe  means  of  arriving  at  this  end:  instead  of  institut- 
ing a  criminal  prosecution  against  the  Archbishop,  or  causing  him 
to  be  arrested,  he  was  placed  under  guardianship;  an  edict  of  the 
7th  of  November,  1853,  prohibited  the  publication  or  execu- 
tion of  any  act  emanating  from  him  without  the  counter-signature 
of  a  special  commissioner  named  by  the  Prince  Regent,  who 
selected  for  the  post  the  first  magistrate  of  the  district  of  Fribourg; 
the  Archbishop  immediately  excommunicated  him,  which,  how- 
ever, did  not  prevent  him  from  fiilfilling  his  painful  office.  The 
Archbishop  caused  all  Ms  sentences  of  excommunication  to  be 
solemnly  published,  and  charged  the  pastors  of  Fribourg  and 
Garlsruhe  to  read  them  from  the  pulpit,  which  they  caused  to  be 
done  by  their  curates.  It  is,  however,  to  be  remarked  that  the 
archiepiscopal  chapter  solemnly  declared  itself  to  agree  in  all 
points  with  the  views  of  its  head. 

"The  Government  repUed  to  these  new  demonstrations  by 
pronoimcing  penalties  of  fine  and  imprisonment  on  those  who 
took  part  in  them.*  The  Grand- Vicar  of  the  Archbishop  was 
successively  condemned  to  fines  amounting  to  several  thousand 


*  All  the  magistrates,  with  the  exception  of  a  very  small 
number,  were  active  in  prosecuting  those  ecclesiastics  who  ren- 
dered themselves  liable  to  it.  The  few  who  refused  to  do  so 
were  deposed  from  oflBce. 

6 


122  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

francs.  All  those  perscais  who  had  executed  the  orders  of  the 
Archbishop  which  had  not  the  counter-signature  of  the  fecial 
commissioner,  were  threatened  with  these  penalties ;  while  the 
deans  and  pastors  who  remained  faithful  to  the  legal  order  of 
things  were  assured  of  the  protection  of  the  Government.  The 
Archbishop  endeavored  to  justify  his  conduct  in  several  proclam- 
ations, which  were  printed  secretly,  or  published  beyond  the 
frontiers,  FinaEy,  he  commanded  (still  without  the  authorization 
of  the  special  commissioner)  every  pastor  to  preach  four  sermons, 
expounding  his  position  toward  the  State^  the  violation  which 
had  taken  place  of  tlie  rights  of  Holy  Church,  and  the  object  of 
his  extraordinary  proceedings.  The  clergy  found  themselves  in 
a  position  of  great  embarrassment;  the  majority  obeyed,  with  or 
against  their  will,  the  orders  of  the  Archbishop;  the  recusants  were 
suspended  or  deprived  of  their  office,  and  some  were  even  excom- 
municated. In  very  many  places  the  communal  councils  entreated 
the  Archbishop  to  withdraw  his  command  concerning  the  four 
sermons,  or  abstained  from  attending  them,  and  in  some  cases  the 
whole  parish  did  the  same.  The  Archbishop  was  inexorable,  and 
steadfastly  declared  that  he  would  persist  in  the  Une  of  conduct 
he  had  marked  out  for  himself  until  justice  was  rendered  him. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  preachers  who  had  distinguished  them- 
selves by  their  warmth,  were  summoned  before  the  civil  tri- 
bunals. 

"  The  spectacle,  hitherto  unparalleled  in  Germany,  of  such  a 
war  to  the  death,  produced  the  utmost  astonishment ;  and  the 
clerical  journals  in  all  countries  were  constantly  occupied  with  its 
discussion.  In  some  it  was  represented  that  the  cause  of  religion 
and  the  Catholic  Church  was  undergoing  a  cruel  persecution :  and 
the  Baden  Government  was  attacked  with  such  virulence,  that 
the  editors  of  several  foreign  journals  were  summoned  before  the 
tribunals  and  condemned  for  contumacy.  On  the  other  hand, 
some  attempted  to  gain  over  the  Prince  Regent  of  Baden,  and 
the  other  sovereigns  interested  in  this  great  question,  by  soft 
words  and  flattering  insinuations,  and  sought  to  persuade  them  to 
abandon  the  system  that  they  had  hitherto  followed,  to  separate 
themselves  from  the  counselors  of  the  Crown,  and  to  embrace  the 
sacred  cause  of  the  Church,  which  was  represented  as  their  own ; 
the  alliance  of  the  altar  and  the  throne  was  held  up  as  the  strong- 
est guaranty  of  the  stabihty  of  the  latter,  and  the  surest  pledge  of 


CONDUCT  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  123 

its  triumph  over  democracy,  which  was  depicted  as  the  common 
enemy  of  both. 

"  Subscriptions  were  opened  in  Bavaria  and  the  Rhine  provinces, 
and  other  parts  of  Catholic  Germany,  as  well  as  in  France  and 
other  foreign  countries,  to  indemnify  the  priests  who  were  mar- 
tyrs of  the  Church. 

"A  large  number  of  addresses  of  condolence  and  congratulation 
from  the  Bishops  and  the  Catholic  clergy  of  almost  every  Catholic 
country,  as  well  as  a  papal  brief,  arrived  at  Fribourg  to  sustain  the 
courage  of  the  prelate  under  his  so-called  persecution.  Some 
even  pretended  to  see  in  this  affair  a  war  of  Protestantism 
against  the  Catholic  Church,  although  the  Protestants,  except  a 
very  small  number,  had  remained  silent  spectators  of  a  struggle 
which  could  not,  however,  raise  the  Church  in  their  eyes.  It  is 
true  that  among  the  journals  which  took  the  Government  side 
there  are  several  edited  by  Protestants,  but  the  great  majority  of 
the  better  class  of  Catholic  journals  belong  to  the  same  party.  As 
to  the  mass  of  the  CathoUc  population,  it  has  remained  indifferent 
to  this  conflict:  it  is  sufficiently  enlightened  to  perceive  that  the 
Catholic  religion  has  suffered  nothing,  and  has  nothing  to  fear  ; 
seeing  that  the  order  of  things  which  the  Bishops  now  stigmatize  (is 
tyranny  has  subsisted  peaceably  for  half  a  century,  without  a  single 
open  complaint  having  been  made. 

"  Almost  every  one  regards  this  conflict  merely  as  a  personal 
affair  of  the  Bishops,  who  aspire  to  extend  their  power ;  there  is 
even  a  large  number  of  persons  who  fear  that  the  victory  of  the 
Bishops  might  be  prejudicial  to  the  hberty  of  conscience. 

.  "The  Baden  Government  at  first  entered  into  negotiations 
with  the  Papal  Nuncio  at  Vienna,  hoping  to  put  an  end  to  the 
contest  by  the  help  of  an  arrangement  with  the  Pope.  It  is  to 
be  remarked  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  Bishop  of  Limburg, 
whose  diocese  includes  the  Duchy  of  Nassau  and  the  city  of 
Frankfort,  the  heads  of  the  other  dioceses  have  not  followed  the 
example  of  their  MetropoHtan ;  that  of  the  electorate  of  Hesse 
has,  in  some  measure,  withdrawn  from  the  coahtion,  trusting  to 
his  personal  influence  over  M.  Hassenpflug,  the  prime-minister  of 
that  country,  for  the  adjustment  of  all  differenc^s.  The  Bishop 
of  Rottenburg  has  addressed  himseff  to  the  King  of  Wurtemberg 
in  person.  A  kind  of  armistice  was  first  agreed  upon,  and  in  the 
month  of  January  last  a  compromise  was  concluded,  which  was 


124  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

formed  into  the  proposals  for  a  convention,  and  transmitted  by 
the  Bishop  to  the  Pope.  Nothing  positive  has  transpired  as  to 
the  clauses  of  this  arrangement,  or  the  negotiations  of  the  Baden 
embassador  at  Vienna.  The  most  ardent,  however,  among  the 
leaders  of  the  clerical  party  have  betrayed  a  certain  dissatisfaction 
with  the  pacific  issue  of  the  grand  struggle. 

"  It  was  in  the  midst  of  this  ever-increasing  agitation  of  the 
public  mind,  constantly  excited  by  anonymous  pamphlets  and 
fugitive  letters  filled  with  invectives,  that  the  opening  of  the 
Chambers  of  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden  took  place.  Public 
attention  was  generally  directed  to  that  passage  in  the  speech 
from  the  throne  which  would  necessarily  refer  to  the  disputes 
with  the  Church.  The  Prince  Regent  alluded  to  them  with  equal 
dignity,  tact,  and  reserve :  he  expressed  his  sincere  regret  that 
the  desire  of  the  Archbishop  to  see  his  power  more  extended 
than  it  could  be  in  conformity  with  the  laws  and  the  existing 
ordinances,  had  given  rise  to  a  kind  of  schism  between  the  Epis- 
copate and  the  Government,  notwithstanding  the  attachment 
which  he  himself,  his  late  father  and  grandfather,  had  always 
manifested  to  their  Catholic  subjects,  and  notwithstanding  their 
respect  for  that  religion  and  their  zeal  for  the  Church ;  that  it  was 
against  his  will  that  he  had  been  forced  to  take  severe  measm*es 
for  the  honor  of  the  State  and  the  authority  of  the  law,  but  that 
he  hoped  that  all  would  be  terminated  by  an  arrangement,  etc. 

"  In  their  answers  or  addresses  of  the  22d  of  January,  1854, 
the  two  Chambers  expressed  their  fullest  sympathy  with  the 
Prince  Regent  in  this  matter.  The  Lower  Chamber,  in  par- 
ticular, which  is  principally  composed  of  Catholics,  expressed 
itself  on  this  occasion  in  a  very  remarkable  manner ;  it  said : 
'  We  regret  the  more  deeply  the  painful  complications  to  which 
the  extraordinary  proceedings  of  the  archiepiscopal  see  have 
given  rise — ^proceedings  so  opposed  to  the  fundamental  basis  of 
our  political  organization — ^because  the  measures  which  your 
Royal  Highness  found  yourself  compelled  to  take  in  order  to  pre- 
serve the  prerogatives  of  the  Crown  from  attack,  have  provoked 
ulterior  acts  on  the  part  of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  which 
might  easily  have  disturbed  the  public  peace,  and  occasioned 
serious  disorders,  had  your  faithful  subjects  been  less  attached  to 
their  duty  than  they  are.  Whatever  errors  may  be  current  in 
foreign  countries  with  regard  to  these  events,  which  have  been 


ADDRESS  FROM  THE  CHAMBERS.      125 

rarely  placed  in  their  true  light,  your  people  has  proved  by  its 
attitude,  and  by  its  firm  confidence  in  your  Highness,  its  persua- 
sion that  the  sacred  cause  of  its  religion  is  exposed  to  no  danger. 
The  remembrance  of  the  benefits  with  which  the  Catholic  Church 
has  been  loaded  from  the  time  of  your  illustrious  grandfather, 
Charles  Frederic,  up  to  our  own  day,  and  the  assurance  of  jour 
Eoyal  Highness  that  the  Catholic  faith  is  not  less  dear  to  your 
heart  than  your  own  confession,  strengthen  it  still  more  in  this 
conviction.  We,  the  representatives  of  the  nation  firom  aU  parts 
of  the  Grand  Duchy,  believe  that  it  is  our  duty  to  lay  this  assur- 
ance at  the  foot  of  the  throne ;  and  to  bear  this  pubhc  testimony, 
that  the  affection  of  your  subjects  and  their  deep  conviction  that 
you  render  to  all  the  same  impartial  justice,  and  that  you  have 
the  same  equal  desire  for  the  welfare  of  all,  have  suffered  no 
change  whatever  in  any  part  of  the  country  in  consequence  of 
these  differences.  Your  faithful  deputies  hope  with  confidence 
that  an  arrangement  with  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  may  be 
arrived  at,  which  shall  not  derogate  in  the  least  from  the  dignity 
and  the  prerogatives  of  the  Crown.' 

"  Conformably  to  the  declaration  made  to  the  Chambers,  the 
Prince  Regent  determined  to  send  an  envoy  to  his  Holiness,  in 
the  hope  of  terminating  amicably  this  great  contest, 

"He  made  choice  of  Count  von  Leiningen,  known  for  his 
attachment  to  the  Church,  and  joined  with  him  a  young  secretary 
who  had  assisted  at  the  conferences  of  the  envoys  of  the  united 
Grovernments  which  had  been  held,  as  we  have  said  above,  at 
Carlsruhe.  To  secure  him  a  welcome  in  Rome,  the  Prince 
revoked  the  ordinance  of  the  7th  of  November,  1853. 

"  The  Government  of  Baden  reasonably  expected  that  the 
Archbishop  would  respect  the  status  quo  until  the  decision  of  the 
Pope  was  known ;  but  this  was  not  the  case  :  aggressive  mea- 
sures were  immediately  resumed.  The  Archbishop  was  no 
longer  contented  with  merely  nominating  pastors  on  his  own 
authority,  but  he  prohibited  all  ecclesiastics  from  presenting  them- 
selves at  the  examinations  in  matters  of  religion,  so  long  as  they 
should  take  place  in  the  presence  of  the  Government  Commis- 
sioners, and  decreed  the  establishment  of  a  school  for  students  of 
theology  at  Fribourg,  in  a  building  belonging  to  the  State ;  further, 
he  caused  all  the  Churches  to  be  closed  wherever  his  nomination 
of  the  pastors  had  not  been  recognized  by  the  Government. 


126  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

This  hostile  act  did  not  alter  the  moderate  conduct  of  the  Grovern- 
ment:  unwilling  to  deprive  the  CathoHc  communities  of  the 
opportunity  of  worship,  it  permitted  the  pastors  nominated  by 
the  Archbishop  to  exercise  their  office  as  temporary  curates.  Yet 
this  condescension  did  not  satisfy  the  Pontiff,  who  went  still 
greater  lengths  on  the  road  of  arbitrary  aggression.  He  com- 
manded the  churchwardens  to  put  his  pastors  in  possession  of  the 
revenues  of  the  living.  As  these  officials  refused  to  lend  them- 
selvers  to  his  design,  and  he  himself  no  longer  recognized  the 
board  of  Cathohc  worship  as  having  a  legal  existence,  he  put  forth 
on  the  5th  of  May,  1854,  an  ordinance  intended  to  prevent  his 
pastors  from  being  left  wholly  without  support,  by  which  he  en- 
joined all  the  communal  boards  to  recognize  no  authority  superior 
to  Ms  own;  he  deposed  the  recusant  members,  and  commanded 
his  pastors,  in  their  character  of  president  of  these  boards,  to  take 
possession  of  all  the  documents  relative  to  the  financial  adminis- 
tration of  the  parish. 

"  This  last  measure  occasioned  the  greatest  perplexity  in  the 
local  administration  of  the  ecclesiastical  funds ;  a  small  number 
of  the  members  of  these  boards  submitted  to  the  episcopal  decree, 
a  larger  number  resigned  office,  the  great  majority  resisted  the 
decree  altogether.  Its  execution  was  vigorously  opposed  by  the 
Government,  and  the  civil  authorities  found  themselves  obliged, 
in  many  places,  to  arrest  the  pastors.  The  Odenwald,  where  the 
populace  forcibly  prevented  the  arrest  of  the  priests,  was  the 
scene  of  several  riots ;  the  Government  was  compelled  to  have 
recourse  to  mihtary  force  to  make  its  authority  respected. 

"On  these  grounds  the  judicial  authority,  seeing  in  the  episco- 
pal decrees  of  the  5th  of  May  a  manifest  abuse  of  power,  and  an 
open  violation  of  the  law,  as  they  contained  a  formal  injunction 
no  longer  to  obey  that  law,  took  the,  preliminary  steps  for  exert- 
ing its  power.  The  instructing  magistrate  of  the  court  of  Fribourg 
visited  the  Archbishop,  and  when  the  latter  refuse'd  to  answer  the 
questions  addressed  to  him,  placed  him  under  arrest  in  his  palace. 

"  The  Pontiff  protested  against  this  judicial  act,  interdicted  the 
ringing  of  the  church  bells  and  the  performance  of  high  mass, 
and  addressed,  on  the  20th  of  May,  a  protest  to  the  court  of 
justice  against  the  proceedings  commenced  against  him,  asserting 
that,  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  he  had  no  judge  but  the  Pope. 
Nevertheless,  he  afterward  submitted  to  the  interrogation  of  the 


STATE   SYSTEM  OP  BUREAUCRACY.  127 

magistrate,  and,  in  the  course  of  a  few  days,  was  restored  to 
liberty.  The  inquiry  was  soon  terminated,  and  the  criminal 
court  of  Fribourg  is  at  present  occupied  with  examining  the  cause, 
in  order  to  deliver  its  definitive  judgment  On  the  part  of  the 
Archbishop,  the  interdict  was  raised  when  the  arrest  was  at  an 
end.*' 

From  this  purely  historical  and  juristic  analysis,  it 
appears  conclusively,  that  of  the  main  points  which  the 
civil  government  refused  to  abandon,  there  was  none 
but  what  had  been  in  substance  asserted  and  established 
in  practice  by  France — nay,  by  Bavaria,  and,  up  to 
1850,  even  by  Austria,  as  regarded  their  bishops  ;  none 
but  what  lay  within  the  reservations  on  behalf  of  the 
supreme  right  of  the  State  in  the  compact  which  had 
been  made  with  Rome.  While  referring  to  the  extract 
above  given  for  individual  facts,  I  will  only  allow  my- 
self to  make  a  few  observations  on  those  points  which 
stand  closely  related  to  our  problem,  and  then  carry  on 
the  historical  statement  from  July,  1854,  where  our  ex- 
tract breaks  of 

To  carry  out  its  principles  of  self-defense,  the  Gov- 
ernment opposes  to  the  pretensions  and  encroachments 
of  the  episcopate  a  very  thorough  system  of  bureau- 
cracy. In  this  instance  I  confess  that  I  have  been 
made  to  feel  afresh  with  pain  the  correctness  of  the  polit- 
ical view  which  we  both  advocate — I  mean  that  central- 
ization is  incompatible  with  the  training  of  the  people  to 
true  freedom,  and,  in  the  long  run,  enfeebles  rather 
than  strengthens  the  power  of  the  State  itself  I  am 
here  speaking  of  the  common  continental  system  of 
bureaucracy,  which  is  a  tutelage  extended  to  the  mi- 
nutest details  of  life,  exercised  over  the  people  in  the 
name  of  the  State ;  which  recognizes  no  sphere  of  inde- 
pendent action  whatever  besides  its  own,  and  more  par- 


128  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

ticularly  excludes  all  independent  congregational  action. 
A  bureaucracy  of  this  kind,  which  strengthens  the  fiscal 
element  of  the  old  absolutism  by  such  a  mechanism,  em- 
bracing the  smallest  details  of  police  regulation,  as  that 
introduced  by  Napoleon,  is  nowhere  less  suitable  and 
more  dangerous  than  when  employed  in  ecclesiastical 
matters,  and  all  relations  with  the  clergy.  As  soon  as 
a  spirit  of  religious  attachment  to  the  Church  is  awak- 
ened, the  Government  finds  itself  at  fault.  Thus,  in 
the  case  of  various  ojfficial  forms  insisted  on  by  the  min- 
isterial declaration  of  1853,  issued  without  the  force  of 
law,  it  has  proved  not  only  difficult,  but  downright  im- 
possible to  carry  them  out ;  still  more  often  do  they  in 
practice  fail  of  their  effect.  That  this  ordinance  has  a 
legal  basis  is  incontestable,  and  equally  so  that  it  is  a 
step  in  advance  toward  the  introduction  of  a  freer  sys- 
tem as  compared  with  the  ordinance  of  1830.  The  only 
question  is,  whether  it  would  not  have  been  well  to  have 
attempted  at  once  to  frame  a  definitive  law,  conformable 
to  the  principles  of  constitutional  monarchy,  and  aiming 
at  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  liberty.  In  our  days, 
a  constitutional  State  with  a  Protestant  dynasty  can  not 
recur  to  the  forms  of  public  law  in  use  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  without  placing  itself  in  a  false  position.  What 
formerly  seemed,  or  really  was,  a  protecting  tutelage,  is 
now  felt  to  be  an  oppressive  governmental  interference. 
No  doubt  the  demands  of  the  bishops  exceed  all  bounds, 
and  must  ever  remain  inadmissible ;  for  the  hierarchical 
canon  law,  on  which  alone  the  prelates  take  their  stand, 
admits  of  no  conditions.  The  bishops  are  wishing  to  re- 
duce the  principle  of  the  unconditional  authority  of  their 
Church  to  a  present  reality,  and  this  by  virtue  of  divine 
and  legal  right.  But  when  the  Government,  cm  their 
side,  confront  them  with  equally  absolutistic  principles 


THE   ONLY   CHRISTIAN   BULWARK.  129 

of  administration,  drawn  from  the  canon  law  of  despot- 
ism, they  betake  themselves  to  the  ground  of  the  bish- 
ops themselves — namely,  that  of  unconditional  power, 
and  therewith  to  that  of  intolerance,  of  slavery — in 
short,  to  the  ground  that  is  fatal  to  themselves,  and  to 
the  present  generation. 

The  unconditional  canon  law  of  the  Romish  Church 
either  recognizes  no  relation  toward  the  State,  or  one 
of  subjection  on  the  part  of  the  latter :  that  is,  a  des- 
potic, unchristian,  hostile  relation.  The  only  Christian 
defense  against  this  is  to  grant  legal  rights  and  liberties 
for  all.  The  primary  origin  of  the  conflict  lies,  as  we 
have  seen,  in  an  old  sin,  in  a  wrong  committed  by  both 
powers — the  suppression  of  the  rights  of  the  Christian 
congregation.  The  dying  out  of  the  Christian  congre- 
gation in  the  Catholic  Church  of  the  eighth  century,  is 
the  source  of  the  inward  weakness  of  the  hierarchy  of 
the  nineteenth  ;  and  the  dying  out  of  the  civil  congre- 
gation in  a  feudal  police-State  become  absolutistic,  is 
the  weak  point  in  the  monarchy  of  our  days,  as  opposed 
to  the  same  hierarchy.  The  functionary  system  of  the 
princes  was  contrived  to  supply  the  place  of  this  congre- 
gation in  a  despotic  State,  and  to  exercise  their  rights 
"  in  the  name  of  the  State  ;"  this  was  the  final  solution 
reached  by  the  previous  century ;  good,  when  necessary, 
as  a  dictatorship — ruinous,  fraught  with  positive  injust- 
ice, and,  therefore,  with  the  germs  of  death,  when  con- 
ceived and  treated  as  a  permanent  legal  condition,  above 
all  in  such  an  age  as  ours,  and  in  the  present  conjunc- 
ture of  affairs  in  Europe. 

The  question  is,  therefore,  whether  the  existing  con- 
stitutional system  affords  a  solution  that  answers  to  the 
actual  condition  of  society.  The  highest  authorities  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  declare  that  they  waive 

6* 


130  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

their  unconditional  claims  only  in  deference  to  the  over- 
powering force  of  circumstances,  that  they  will  never 
give  way,  except  under  coercion — and  then  only  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  not  of  principle.  They  have  also  an- 
nounced their  intention,  in  no  ambiguous  terms,  to  have 
recourse  to  self-redress,  and  even  to  push  matters  to  an 
actual  civil  war,  as  soon  as  they  think  they  can  do  so 
with  success. 

The  liberal  party  on  the  continent  have  gradually 
emancipated  themselves  from  the  folly  of  their  prede- 
cessors, who  imagined  that  the  encroachments  of  the 
clergy  could  be  successfully  repelled  by  the  despotic 
police  and  fiscal  system  of  Joseph  II.  and  Napoleon  the 
Great.  Those  worthy  people  had  suffered  themselves  to 
be  deluded  by  old  Lamennais  and  other  ultramontanists 
into  the  idea,  that  the  knot  could  be  loosed  by  the  cheap 
talisman  of  a  separation  between  Church  and  State. 
Yet  none  of  these  wise  men  attempted  to  any  purpose 
to  show  how,  with  regard  to  certain  questions  of  social 
life,  we  were  to  arrive  at  such  a  separation  as  could  at 
all  events  cut  the  knot :  in  the  first  place,  with  regard 
to  marriage  and  public  education — points  on  which  the 
State  necessarily  comes  in  contact  with  the  ecclesiastical 
corporations  ;  and  secondly,  with  regard  to  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Catholic  Church  revenues,  except  where 
these  are,  by  common  consent,  the  property  of  the  con- 
gregation. I*n  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden,  the  whole 
amount  of  the  property  belonging  to  the  Catholic 
Church  may  be  estimated  at  no  less  than  sixty  million 
florins  (125,000,000  francs),  if  we  add  the  capital  to 
the  yearly  revenues,  and  capitalize  the  latter  at  five- 
and-twenty  years'  purchase.  It  is  worth  the  trouble 
to  take  a  survey  of  the  component  parts  of  this  prop- 
erty.    We  have  here  four  different  classes  of  property : 


CHURCH  PROPERTY.  131 

1.  Funds  for  the  maintenance  of  the  cathedral  chap- 
ter, the  seminary,  and  the  cathedral  benefice.  These 
are  mana^d  bj  the  cathedral  chapter ;  the  Catholic 
High  Church  Council  audits  the  accounts. 

2.  The  general  ecclesiastical  fund,  formed  of  seques- 
trated ecclesiastical  foundations,  and  the  dues  belonging 
to  vacant  benefices  (intercalary  funds,  in  the  official 
language  of  the  canon  law).  ^  This  capital  amounts  to 
800,000  florins;  the  current  income  and  expenditure 
from  120,000  to  130,000  florins.  This  considerable 
branch  of  Church  property  has  been  accumulated  and 
kept  up  by  the  provident  efibrts  of  the  Government,  and, 
by  universal  testimony,  is  managed  with  the  greatest 
conscientiousness  by  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Board. 

3.  Funds  belonging  to  the  parishes  and  districts,  and 
for  the  support  of  churches,  schools,  and  the  poor,  in 
the  several  localities.  These  funds  are  in  the  hands  of 
local  boards,  for  the  management  of  endowments,  pre- 
sided over  by  the  parish  priest.  The  Supreme  Ecclesi- 
astical Board  exercises  only  a  general  supervision. 

The  capital  of  these  revenues  is  estimated  at  about 
20,000,000  florins.  By  the  constitution,  the  whole  of 
this  property  is  placed  under  the  protection  of  the  laws, 
and  therefore  every  abuse  can  be  brought  before  the  or- 
dinary courts  of  justice.  The  Supreme  Ecclesiastical 
Board  is  composed  exclusively  of  Catholic  members, 
clerical  and  secular.  Not  a  single  complaint  has  ever 
been  lodged  against  it  for  bad  management  or  injustice, 
still  less  for  peculation.* 

*  Comp.  Warnkonig :  "  Ueber  den  Conflict  des  Episkopats," 
etc.,  and  a  pamphlet  written  with  great  fairness,  and  much  in- 
formation, entitled  "Auch  zur  Antwort  iiber  den  derzeitigen 
Kirchenstreit."  February,  1854.  In  this  brief  essay,  the  numer- 
ous errors  and  misconceptions  of  Canon  Hirscher  are  exposed. 
It  has  been  attributed  by  Warnkonig  (Schletter's  "Jahrbiicher 


132  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

4.  The  incomes  of  the  livings.  This,  which  is  the 
most  considerable  branch  of  Church  property,  amounts, 
including  capital,  and  capitalized  income,  to  about 
20,000,000  florins.  It  is  managed  by  the  parish 
priests  themselves,  who  apply  it  at  their  discretion. 
The  Bishops  and  Government  exercise  a  joint  super- 
vision over  the  maintenance  of  the  capital. 

Now  the  Epispocal  Court  claims  the  sole  management 
and  supervision  of  the  whole  of  this  property,  to  the  ut- 
ter exclusion  of  the  State ;  and  at  the  same  time  does 
not  surrender  its  claim  to  grants  from  the  State.  All 
this  is  said  to  be  nothing  more  than  compensation  for 
the  ecclesiastical  revenues  that  have  been  confiscated. 
So  things  are  on  quite  a  different  footing  here  from 
what  they  are  in  France  or  Belgium,  where  such  pro- 
ceedings as  those  of  our  Bishops  would  be  called  simple 
treason,  which,  strictly  speaking,  they  really  are.  In 
these  countries  the  Church  property  was  confiscated 
long  ago  by  the  State,  and  the  Church  is  satisfied 
with  the  scanty  residuum  allotted  to  her.  Thus  it 
would  be  impossible  to  concede  the  demand  of  the  Bish- 
ops without  violating  the  principles  of  the  greatest 
Christian  fairness,  and  the  most  liberal  constitutional 
treatment.  It  is  the  same  with  education.  The  mo- 
nopoly of  education  and  mental  culture  by  the  State  is 
certainly  not  better  than  by  the  clergy — here,  too,  the 
principle  of  freedom  is  still  new  on  the  soil  of  Napo- 
leonic centralization.  In  both  domains  the  principle 
of  freedom  can  not  be  administered  by  mere  official 
action,  but  only  by  calling  in  the  aid  of  Catholic  con- 

der  deutschen  Wissenschafl")  to  a  distinguished  Catholic  func- 
tionary in  Carlsruhe ;  and  the  statements  of  the  article  in  Cotta's 
"  Vierteljahrschrift"  for  1854  ascribed  to  M.  von  Linde,  coincide 
with  this.  m 


STATE  CONTROL.  133 

gregational  activity,  as  Wessenberg  as  recently  advised 
afresh. 

In  all  its  proceedings  the  Government  evidently 
stands  upon  the  ground  of  the  law.  It  opposes  to  the 
unconditional  claims  of  the  Bishops  the  right  derived 
from  the  existing  laws  of  the  land,  and  the  intrinsic 
reasonableness  of  those  laws.  Yet  things  can  scarcely 
remain  long  at  the  point  which  they  have  reached. 
One  thing  is  already  clear :  the  State  can  no  longer  re- 
tain its  right  of  supervision  in  the  form  of  an  exclusive 
administrative  guardianship.  Still  less  can  it  derive  its 
right  and  its  practice  from  the  usages  of  the  eighteenth 
century ;  in  those  cases  where  an  active  participation  of 
the  clergy  is  required,  the  secular  power  can  restrain 
the  priest's  hand,  but  it  can  not  impel  him  to  impose  it. 
It  has  the  right  to  cancel  an  inadmissible  verdict  of  the 
episcopal  tribunals  as  invalid,  but  has  not,  therefore, 
any  right  to  modify  the  verdict  into  accordance  with  its 
own  views,  thus  making  itself  a  partner  in  the  unjust 
decision.  Scarcely  could  imperial  power  suffice  to  ac- 
complish this  in  a  crisis  so  grave  as  the  present,  in 
which,  moreover,  under  one  form  or  other,  a  hierarchi- 
cal tendency  has  so  strong  a  hold  on  the  popular  mind. 

But,  above  all,  it  is  not  right.  It  will  not  do  ta  op- 
pose to  a  right,  however  one-sided,  nothing  more  than  a 
consideration  of  mere  State  expediency. 

On  these  grounds  I  can  not  but  term  it  a  lamentable 
blunder,  and  a  decided  anachronism,  that  in  1852,  at 
the  obsequies  of  the  Grand  Duke,  the  Government 
should  have  required  the  Archbishop  to  order  a  mass 
for  the  dead  to  be  performed,  as  his  predecessors  had 
always  been  used  to  do  under  similar  circumstances, 
without  raising  any  objection.  His  refusal  was  cer- 
tainly most  uncourteous ;  and  it  was  further  contrary  to 


134  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

the  usage  of  a  liiore  liberal  age.  But  that  age  was  also 
really  one  of  confessional  indifference — nay,  an  age  in 
which,  in  many  quarters,  there  was  much  indifference 
even  to  morals  and  religion.  We  have  at  all  events, 
now-a-days,  to  take  other  spiritual  elements  into  the 
account,  not  only  in  the  Ultramontane  party  and  in  the 
clergy,  but  also  in  the  people  ;  and  the  Catholic  Church 
supplied  other  suitable  forms  for  the  expression  of  the 
people's  sorrow  at  the  death  of  their  Prince  and  attach- 
ment to  his  memory.  And  lastly,  it  really  seems  to  us 
little  consonant  with  the  dignity  of  the  Ministers  of  a 
Protestant  sovereign  to  entreat  the  public  prayers  of 
such  a  hierarchy.  So  likewise  it  appears  to  me  an  in- 
consistency when  the  State  binds  itself,  or  thinks  itself 
authorized  to  co-operate  actively  in  acts  of  the  clergy 
within  the  sphere  of  their  own  canon  law.  And  thus  I 
can  not  but  find  it  a  questionable  thing  when  it  is  said 
in  the  edict  addressed  to  the  bishops  in  1853,  "  Cen- 
sures (punishments  which  the  bishop  has  the  power  of 
inflicting  on  ecclesiastics)  need  the  sanction  of  the  State 
only  in  those  cases  where  the  aid  of  the  State  is  re- 
quired for  their  fulfillment."  A  constitutional  govern- 
ment, and  especially  a  Protestant  one,  should  never  con- 
descend to  make  itself  the  executioner  of  ecclesiastical 
censures.  Every  government  must  have  the  right  to 
afford  protection  to  all,  be  they  clergy  or  laity,  who 
complain  of  the  violation  of  their  civil  liberty  or  rights 
of  property,  through  the  abuse  of  ecclesiastical  power ; 
and  this  is  what  the  governments  of  France  and  Baden 
have  done.  And  in  such  cases,  the  more  the  civil  gov- 
ernment can  restrict  itself  to  the  application  of  univer- 
sal legal  enactments,  and  leave  every  thing  to  the  ordin- 
ary tribunals  (rather  than  to  the  Council  of  State,  for 
instance,  in  France)  the  more  secure  it  is  of  keeping  in 


RESISTANCE  OP  THE   BISHOPS.  135 

the  right  path.  But  then  there  must  be  no  question  of 
State  sanction,  but  only  of  its  decision  respecting  the 
legal  consequences  of  the  dissolution  of  a  contract  b  j  the 
one  party  alone,  such  as  that  between  a  bishop  and  the 
incumbent  of  a  living,  as  regards  the  revenues.  Any 
thing  beyond  this  is  to  be  reckoned  among  the  blunders 
and  inconsistencies  of  the  modern  continental  State. 

But  on  the  side  of  the  Bishops  we  find  not  merely  a 
passive  resistance — they  preach  active  resistance ;  nay, 
insurrection.  The  Archbishop  unquestionably  resorted 
to  self-redress,  and  proclaimed  open  war  against  the 
Government,  when,  in  conjunction  with  the  four  bishops 
of  his  province,  he  declared  on  the  12th  of  April 
"  That  from  henceforward  he  would  withstand  the  laws 
of  the  State,  in  so  far  as  they  affected  the  Church,  and 
contradicted  her  dogmas."  And  that  he  acted  upon  this 
declaration  is  proved  by  subsequent  events.  He  pre- 
scribed that  four  sermons  should  be  preached  in  every 
parish,  in  order  to  make  the  wrong  committed  by  the 
Government  clear  to  the  people — an  order  that  in  France 
and  every  other  Catholic  country  would  have  drawn 
down  upon  him  a  criminal  prosecution  before  the  ordi- 
nary tribunal.*  The  Archbishop  filled  up  livings, 
without  reference  to  the  right  of  co-operation  hitherto 
exercised  by  the  Government.  But  when  the  Govern- 
ment, on  their  side,  appointed  incumbents  to  parishes 
of  which  they  claimed  the  right  of  presentation,  and 
where  they  had  hitherto  exercised  it  without  dispute, 
the  Archbishop  launched  a  sentence  of  excommunication 
against  the  members  of  the  Catholic  Supreme  Ecclesias- 
tical Council — laymen  and  officers  of  State,  who  had 
simply  done  what  they  were  bound  to  do.     But,  accord- 

*  Code  Penal,  Art.  201-203.  See  Laboulaye's  Essay  in 
Wolowski's  Law  Gazette,  which  is  cited  in  Appendix  A. 


136  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

ing  to  the  Ultramontane  interpretation  of  the  canon 
law,  even  to  do  this  is  a  crime  which  excludes  from 
Christian  communion.  "We  must  obey  God  rather 
than  man"  is  a  well-known  maxim  in  that  system ; 
whatever  may  become  of  God's  voice — ^the  personal  con- 
science of  the  individual — we  ought  unconditionally  to 
obey  the  ecclesiastical  court  rather  than  the  secular 
one ;  and  this  is  commanded  on  pain  of  exclusion  from 
the  means  of  grace  belonging  to  the  Church — there- 
fore, as  far  as  lies  in  human  power,  from  eternal  salva- 
tion. 

The  Government,  however,  did  not  respond,  as  they 
might  have  done,  by  stopping  the  income  of  the  Arch- 
bishop, but  placed  the  execution  of  the  ordinance  of  the 
7th  November,  1853,  in  the  hands  of  the  head  magis- 
trate of  the  district  of  Fribourg,  whom  the  Archbishop 
thereupon  excommunicated.  On  their  side,  the  Govern- 
ment caused  some  parish  priests  who  had  taken  part 
with  the  Archbishop  to  be  arrested  on  account  of  illegal 
acts  which  they  had  committed  in  their  office,  and  im- 
posed fines  on  them.  Meanwhile  the  Government  had 
announced  their  intention  of  entering  into  negotiations 
with  the  Nuncio  in  Vienna.  But  already,  in  December, 
1853,  the  Pope  put  forth  an  allocution,  in  which  he 
declared  the  Archbishop  entirely  in  the  right,  and  soon 
after  gave  him  to  understand  that  his  acts  met  with  his 
highest  approbation.  On  this,  in  order  to  be  able  to 
commence  negotiations  with  Rome,  the  Government  re- 
called the  ordmance  of  the  7th  of  November.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  sentence  of  excommunication  against 
the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  and  the  first  magis- 
trate of  Fribourg  was  not  recalled,  which  certainly, 
considering  that  they  had  simply  performed  the  duties 
of  their  office,  without  any  act  of  personal  hostility, 


MISTAKE  OP  THE  GOVERNMENT.  I37 

would  have  been  done  by  any  one  else.  A  bishop, 
however,  who  places  the  unconditional  canon  law  above 
God's  Word  and  above  justice,  sees  the  case  in  a  very 
different  light.  It  is  said  that  he  gave  hopes  of  a  par- 
don, if  the  condemned  individuals  professed  their  re- 
pentance. How  could  they  do  so,  when,  in  carrying 
the  law  into  effect,  they  had  already  made  a  declara- 
tion that  they  only  did  their  duty  as  officials,  and 
they  had  never  even  been  accused  of  any  personal  viola- 
tion of  their  duties  toward  religion  and  ecclesiastical 
authority. 

But  all  this  would  hardly  have  come  to  pass  if  the 
Government  had  quietly  advanced  on  the  ground  of 
their  political  and  constitutional  rights,  and  come  to  an 
understanding  with  the  country  by  means  of  the  Cham- 
bers. By  negotiating  with  Rome,  they  took  up  before- 
hand a  position  on  which  they  must  inevitably  be  de- 
feated ;  and  by  refraining  from  a  judicial  inquiry  into 
acts  of  encroachment  provided  against  by  the  laws, 
they  allowed  the  only  weapon  which  is  feared  by  the 
hierarchy  to  be  taken  out  of  their  hands.  There  is  not 
the  slightest  doubt  but  that  the  functionaries  and  clergy- 
men on  whom  that  spiritual  penalty  was  inflicted,  had  a 
right  to  expect  the  judicial  protection  of  the  executive 
power.  Can  we  therefore  wonder  if,  on  all  sides,  things 
began  to  take  a  turn  unfavorable  for  the  Government  ? 
The  revolt  that  had  been  preached  did  not  take  place, 
but  the  decided  spirit  of  opposition  to  the  hierarchy 
shown  by  the  Chambers,  and  throughout  the  country, 
could  not  but  cool  down  when  the  Government  did  not 
stand  up  for  its  own  rights,  and  those  of  the  citizens, 
on  the  ground  of  law.  The  disposition  to  maintain  the 
laws  of  the  land  and  the  majesty  of  political  rights, 
had  been  manifested  most  unmistakably  at  the  opening 


188  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

of  the  Chambers  in  January,  1854.  On  that  occasion, 
when  the  Prince  Regent  alluded  to  these  circumstances 
in  dignified  terms,  and  expressed  his  confidence  in  the 
deputies  and  the  people  whom  they  represented,  the 
enthusiastic  response  which  followed  was  the  most 
conspicuous  proof  that  the  first  wish  of  Catholics,  no 
less  than  Protestants,  was  to  see  the  law  of  the  land 
upheld  in  its  integrity.  The  number,  too,  was  very  in- 
considerable of  the  parish  priests  who  had  shown  any  in- 
clination to  comply  with  the  first  illegal  commands  of  the 
Archbishop.  They  continued  to  transact  business  with 
the  ecclesiastical  department,  and  the  administration  of 
the  revenues  of  foundations  suffered  no  interruption. 
But  were  they  not  now,  to  some  extent,  left  in  the  lurch 
by  the  Grovernment,  and  exposed  to  the  ecclesiastical 
vengeance  of  the  Archbishop  ? 

It  might  have  been  imagined  that  the  Archbishop 
would  now,  on  his  side,  adopt  a  milder  course.  But 
his  conduct  by  no  means  justified  these  expectations. 
Any  joint  action  in  the  management  of  ecclesiastical 
affairs  proved  to  be  attended  with  greater  difficulty 
than  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  contest.  The  Arch- 
bishop subjected  all  the  parochial  clergy  who  had 
yielded  compliance  to  the  Government  to  a  spiritual 
censure:  and  on  the  14th  of  May,  issued  a  Pastoral 
forbidding  the  local  boards  (who  are  charged  with  the 
management  of  local  foundations,  under  the  joint  super- 
intendence of  the  State  and  the  Archbishop)  to  give  an 
account  of  their  expenditure  to  the  ecclesiastical  depart- 
ment, as  prescribed  by  law.  The  Archbishop,  next, 
even  went  so  far  as  openly  to  call  upon  the  individual 
Catholic  congregations  to  take  things  into  their  own 
hands,  thus  inciting  them  to  active  resistance,  and  rebel- 
lion against  the  laws  of  the  land.     These  are  the  words 


ARCHBISHOP  ARRESTED.  139 

of  his  Edict  concerning  the  priests  whom  he  had  ap- 
pointed to  livings:  "To  the  several  parishes  is  in- 
trusted the  duty  of  protecting,  by  suitable  means,  the 
pastor  legally  set  over  them  by  the  Curia,  and  securing 
him  in  the  possession  of  his  living."  The  spark  did 
not  kindle  ;  only  in  a  small  number  of  country  parishes 
was  it  necessary  to  quarter  a  few  companies  of  soldiers 
for  a  short  time ;  the  great  majority  even  of  the  rural 
population  remained  tranquil  and  faithful  to  the  Govern- 
ment. The  answer  of  the  city  of  Eribourg  to  the  ex- 
communication of  her  first  magistrate,  was  his  election 
as  honorary  citizen  at  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office. 
But  it  was  no  thanks  to  the  Archbishop  that  the  country 
was  not  made  a  prey  to  disorder  till  the  claims  of  the 
hierarchy  were  satisfied. 

The  entering  into  negotiations  with  Rome  was,  there- 
fore, from  the  outset,  an  error  and  an  unfortunate  step 
for  the  Government.  For  as  early  as  the  year  1830, 
and  repeatedly  since  then,  the  Pope  had  called  on  the 
bishops  to  adopt  the  very  course  of  which  the  Govern- 
ment had  to  complain.  How,  then,  could  he  declare 
them  in  the  wrong,  when  they  had  so  evidently  pursued 
the  course  indicated  to  them  ? 

Now,  as  a  last  resort,  the  Government  turned  in  the 
right  direction,  and  recurred  to  the  ordinary  course  of 
law.  They  instituted  criminal  proceedings  against  the 
Archbishop,  and  on  the  19th  of  May  caused  him  to  be 
arrested,  on  a  charge  of  having  abused  his  office  to  the 
endangering  of  the  public  peace  and  order.  In  this  way 
the  Archbishop  sufiered  some  days'  confinement  in  his 
palace,  namely,  during  the  preliminary  hearing  of  the 
case,  as  the  laws  prescribe.  As  soon  as  the  judicial  in- 
vestigation had  formally  commenced,  the  arrest  was  at 
at  end,  and  the  Archbishop  held  perfectly  free  com- 


140  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

munication  with  the  world.  It  need  hardly  be  said,  that 
during  this  short  time  of  arrest  the  Archbishop  was 
treated  with  the  greatest  respect,  and  all  the  considera- 
tion due  to  his  age  and  high  dignity.  This,  however, 
did  not  prevent  numbers  of  the  pious  from  rushing  to 
his  palace  on  the  news  of  his  arrest,  in  order  to  be  re- 
fused admission,  in  accordance  with  the  general  rules  of 
court ;  on  which  they,  of  course,  revived  the  cry  of  per- 
secution and  martyrdom.  The  public  press  of  Baden 
and  Germany,  in  which  every  particular  relating  to  this 
affair  was  recorded  and  discussed  by  both  parties,  affords 
the  best  refutation  of  these  falsehoods  and  exaggerations. 
Without  a  doubt  a  jury  would  have  maintained  the  law 
of  the  land.  As  the  legal  mode  of  commencing  such  a 
prosecution,  the  arrest  of  the  Archbishop  was  not  merely 
a  justifiable  step,  but  a  necessary  one,  commanded  by 
respect  for  the  law.  In  the  same  way,  the  arrest  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Cologne  in  1837  was  perfectly  justifiable, 
on  the  supposition  that  the  Government  intended  to  cite 
the  Archbishop  before  his  lawful  judges,  if  Rome  should 
decline  to  silence  him ;  and,  on  this  supposition,  those 
proceeded  who  had  counseled  his  arrest,  as  the  docu- 
ments would  unanswerably  prove  to  all  the  world  if 
they  were  published.  The  Government  of  Baden  was 
therefore  perfectly  in  order  when  they  caused  the  Arch- 
bishop to  be  put  under  arrest,  and  examined  according 
to  the  rules  of  court.  Instead,  however,  of  allowing  the 
judicial  proceedings  really  t&  follow,  they  accepted  in 
September  the  offer  of  mediation  made  by  Rome  on  the 
25th  of  August,  and  announced  the  terms  of  the  pro- 
visional agreement  on  the  14th  of  October,  on  which  the 
Archbishop  notified  the  same  to  his  clergy  on  the  18th 
of  November.  According  to  the  text  of  this  Edict  of 
the  14th  of  October,  in  the  first  place  the  proceedings 


COMPKOMISE  WITH  ROME.  141 

instituted  against  the  Archbishop  are  quashed,  "since 
an  agreement  being  arrived  at  respecting  the  manage- 
ment of  local  ecclesiastical  funds,  the  occasion  for  a 
judicial  investigation  is  removed."  Secondly,  those 
ecclesiastics  or  laics  are  to  be  set  at  liberty  who  may 
have  been  imprisoned  for  executing  an  order  of  the 
Archbishop,  with  reference  to  "  the  diocesan  government 
or  administration  of  Church  property;"  and  the  investi- 
gations still  pending  with  regard  to  such  acts,  are  to  be 
quashed.  Thirdly,  the  cure  of  souls  is  provided  for  by 
the  regulation,  that  "  the  Archbishop  is  to  appoint  fit- 
ting clergymen  to  perform  the  parochial  duties,  to  whom 
the  Government  will  cause  the  usual  daily  stipend  (a 
florin  and  a  half  per  diem)  to  be  paid,  after  deducting 
the  remainder  of  the  income  of  the  living."  Thus  the 
filling  up  of  the  living  is  suspended  until  the  final  ar- 
rangement is  made  between  the  Government  and  the 
Archbishop.  On  this  follows,  as  the  fourth  article,  the 
announcement  that  the  administration  of  the  local 
Church  property  is  to  be  carried  on  as  before  the  dispute 
arose.  This,  therefore,  includes  the  rescinding  of  the 
Archbishop's  prohibitions  of  intercourse  with  the  Gov- 
ernment. On  the  other  side,  the  fifth  and  concluding 
article  declares,  that  the  ministerial  ordinances  in  reply 
(the  Edicts  of  the  18th  of  April  and  18th  of  May)  are 
canceled  on  the  part  of  the  Grand  Ducal  Government. 

It  can  not  be  denied,  that  in  this  preliminary  conven- 
tion, the  Curia  only  gives  way  on  one  point,  namely, 
with  regard  to  the  Administration  of  Church  property, 
which  the  Archbishop  had  brought  to  a  stand-still,  by 
forbidding  the  officials  concerned  to  transact  business 
with  the  Government.  As  regards  Church  discipline, 
Rome  upholds  the  Archbishop  in  every  step,  including 
the   excommunication   of   the    Supreme   Ecclesiastical 

[UiriyERSITTl 


142  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Council.  The  Government  gives  way  on  both  the 
points  in  dispute.  It  cancels  all  legal  proceedings 
against  the  Archbishop  and  his  priests,  not  only  with 
reference  to  the  present  dispute,  but  also  with  reference 
to  the  government  of  the  Church,  and  confirms  the  ille- 
gal nominations  of  the  Archbishop.  It  only  insists  that 
the  persons  so  nominated  shall  be  regarded  as  curates, 
not  incumbents,  and  therefore  receive  only  a  portion  of 
the  income  of  the  benefices.  At  first  it  appeared  as  if 
the  whole  execution  of  the  convention  would  sufier  ship- 
wreck on  this  point.  The  persons  excommunicated  re- 
fused to  sue  for  pardon,  since  they  had  simply  done 
their  duty.  On  account  of  this,  the  clergy  were  unable 
to  enter  into  the  relations  with  them  that  were  necessary 
to  the  carrying  on  of  the  administration.  After  some  hes- 
itation, the  Archbishop  empowered  the  parish  priests, 
by  a  circular  issued  in  February,  1855,  to  hold  dealings 
with  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  in  the  matters 
affecting  the  revenues  of  endowments,  but  to  refrain 
from  all  other  intercourse.  This  is  the  position  in  which 
afiairs  stand,  up  to  the  present  moment. 

Now,  what  would  have  been  the  probable  result,  if  the 
Government  had  simply  pursued  a  constitutional  course  ? 
No  doubt,  if  the  dispute  had  been  arranged  by  an  appeal 
to  the  courts  of  justice,  the  necessity  would  have  been 
still  more  apparent  of  a  clear,  honest,  liberal  law,  defin- 
ing the  position  of  the  State  toward  the  Church,  which 
might  have  replaced  the  ordinances  of  1830,  and  of 
March,  1853.  Hence  there  seems  nothing  left  for  the 
Government  to  do  but  that,  which  done  in  January, 
1854,  would  have  averted  much  mischief — I  mean,  that 
they  should  lay  a  project  of  law  before  the  Chambers, 
defining  the  existing  regulations  in  the  sense  of  true 
legal  and  constitutional  liberty,  and,  where  necessary, 


NEEDFUL  MEASURES.  143 

altering  them  so  as  to  adapt  them  to  present  circum- 
stances. By  so  doing,  they  will  thus  reward  evil  with, 
good,  encounter  the  hierarchy  with  Christianity,  and  op- 
pose to  the  claims  of  the  canon  law  the  majesty  of  polit- 
ical justice  and  civil  freedom.  Such  a  law  might  be 
assimilated,  in  some  respects,  to  that  of  France  and 
Belgium,  in  others  to  the  existing  regulations  in  Prus- 
sia ;  at  the  same  time,  however,  keeping  in  view  the 
points  of  difference  in  the  legislation  of  those  countries, 
and  the  existing  compact  with  Rome.  In  any  case,  the 
law  would  have  to  be  as  liberal  as  possible,  and  to  con- 
tain a  penal  clause.  The  more  fair  and  just  a  law,  the 
greater  security  is  there  for  its  enforcement  against 
every  one,  even  against  archbishops ;  for  then  public 
opinion  becomes  penetrated  with  that  sense  of  law 
which  was  expressed  some  time  ago  in  the  remarkable 
words  of  the  Sardinian  officer,  who  had  to  keep  guard 
over  the  Archbishop  of  Turin.  The  latter  remarking 
that  he  no  doubt  felt  it  very  painful  to  execute  the  orders 
of  the  Government,  the  officer  replied,  very  simply — 
"  Not  in  the  least;  for  we  all  stand  beneath  the  majesty 
of  the  law,  which  you  have  violated."  Such  a  feeling 
of  the  sanctity  of  the  laws  of  our  fatherland,  makes  even 
small  governments  and  states  more  powerful  than  many 
larger  ones.  In  his  recent  essay  in  Schletter's  ''  Jahr- 
bucher,"  Professor  Warnkonig  has  appended  the  scheme 
of  such  a  law  for  the  province  of  the  Upper  Rhine, 
which,  coming  from  so  distinguished  and  experienced  a 
man,  certainly  deserves  attention.  I  therefore  insert  it 
in  Appendix  B,  and  beg  to  express  my  general  concur- 
rence with  it. 

You  will  observe  that  the  seventh  article  of  this  pro- 
ject speaks  of  the  execution  of  the  sentences  of  the 
Spiritual  Court.     This  might,  perhaps,  require  a  more 


144  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

precise  definition,  in  the  sense  of  what  has  been  said 
above.  With  regard  to  his  eighth  article,  concerning 
popular  education,  the  experience  of  France  and  Bel- 
gium shows  that  it  is  virtually  putting  the  gymnasia  and 
lyceums  into  the  hands  of  the  bishops,  if  you  make  it 
dependent  on  their  pleasure  whether  Catholic  religious 
instruction,  shall  be  imparted  or  not.  The  Government 
must,  in  any  case,  reserve  to  itself  the  right  of  choosing 
a  master  for  religious  instruction  from  among  the  clergy 
approved  by  the  bishop.  If  he  refuse  on  principle  to 
send  up  candidates  for  the  office,  the  Government  must 
retaliate  by  suspending  the  episcopal  revenues,  as  has 
always  been  its  acknowledged  right.  With  the  other 
branches  of  instruction  the  bishops  should  have  nothing 
whatever  to  do. 

When  I  here  give  utterance  to  my  convictions,  I 
know  that  a  Government  so  enlightened  as  that  of  Ba- 
den will  not  see  any  want  of  respect  even  in  my  criti- 
cisms, but  only  the  candid  remarks  of  a  sympathizing 
observer.  I  make  ample  allowance  for  the  embarrass- 
ment of  their  position.  I  fully  recognize  how  greatly 
the  violent  and  illegal  conduct  of  the  Archbishop  and 
his  adherents  increased  the  difficulty  of  entering  on  the 
path  of  parliamentary  legislation.  Finally,  I  do  not 
forget  the  respect  naturally  paid .  to  the  diplomatic 
representations  of  which  we  have  heard,  dissuading 
from  an  open  constitutional  proceeding  with  the  Cham- 
bers, and  to  the  urgent  advice,  proceeding  from  an 
influential  quarter,  to  negotiate  with  Rome. 

So  much  the  more,  however,  do  I  hold  it  my  duty  to 
declare  that  I  think  the  Government  perfectly  in  the 
right  when  they  expelled  the  Jesuits  who  were  holding 
missions  in  the  country,  since  that  body  enjoyed  no 
legal  recognition  from  the  State. 


EXPULSION  OF  THE  JESUITS.  145 

Whether  there  ought  to  be  a  legal  permission  of  the 
public  labors  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  land,  is  an  open 
political  question,  on  the  consideration  of  which  I  am 
not  here  called  upon  to  enter.  But  it  is  410  matter  of 
question  that  such  labors,  in  order  to  be  legal,  require 
an  express  legal  resolution  and  edict.  For  a  society 
which  has  been  formally  abolished,  and  that  at  the 
Pope's  desire,  can  not  possibly  lay  a  claim  to  be  legally 
re-established,  eveii  by  the  Pope's  desire,  without  a  leg- 
islative enactment.  And  in  former  times  they  have  al- 
ways demanded  such  an  authorization  in  Catholic  States. 
But,  be  that  as  it*  may,  in  Baden  the  Jesuits  had  no 
right  to  hold  missions,  nor  the  bishops  to  allow  them  to 
do  so ;  and  the  Government  simply  availed  themselves 
of  their  right ;  a  step  all  the  more  justifiable  under  cir- 
cumstances of  so  much  perplexity. 

The  educational  establishments  of  the  Jesuits  may 
certainly  be  regarded  as  those  of  private  persons ;  and  in 
that  case,  where  universal  religious  liberty  exists,  they 
ought  not  to  be  excluded  from  the  rights  commonly  ac- 
corded to  private  schools ;  it  being  understood,  of  course, 
that  they  submit  themselves  to  the  same  inspection  on 
the  part  of  the  State  as  all  others.  These,  therefofe, 
would  be  schools  conducted  by  individual  Jesuits.  But 
schools  belonging  to  .the  society  presuppose  (as  do  Jesuit 
missions  in  my  opinion)  the  express  permission  of  the 
Order  by  a  law.  This  was  the  view  taken  in  France 
under  the  Bourbons.  But  if  the  question  under  dis- 
cussion be  whether  the  Jesuits  are  to  be  recognized  as  a 
society  with  corporate  rights,  we  must  not  overlook  the 
fact  that  this  society  is  distinguished  from  all  other  or- 
ders of  the  Catholic  Church  by  its  fundamental  principle. 
It  is  a  priestly  institution  for  proselytizing  and  popular 
education,  and  a  secret  society,  of  which  every  member 


146  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

pledges  himself  at  all  times  to  yield  obedience  to  what- 
ever decision  may  issue  from  the  Pope  of  Rome,  to 
uphold  whose  unconditional  authority  is  the  declared 
object  of  their  Order.  Laboulaye's  verdict  on  this  point 
in  his  articles  on  the  history  of  the  dogma  of  the  Im- 
maculate Conception,  has  never  been  answered,  and  is 
unanswerable. 

All  the  States  in  which  the  Jesuits  have  once  had 
the  upper  hand,  banish  them  as  soon  as  they  are  able ;  as 
we  see  now  taking  place  in  Spain  and  Sardinia :  in  all 
other  Catholic  countries  they  are  the  object  of  general 
aversion,  both  to  the  regular  and  secular  clergy.  That 
they  have  made  their  way  into  Prussia  and  Hohenzol- 
lern  and  established  themselves  there,  can  scarcely  be  an 
inducement  to  the  Government  of  Baden  to  swerve  from 
their  secure  footing  on  the  law.  The  Catholic  parochial 
clergy  would  vote  for  it  as  little  as  the  people,  but  it  is 
possible  to  intimidate  the  former. 

As  we  have  said,  the  ecclesiastical  contest  in  Baden 
remains  up  to  the  present  moment  as  far  from  decision 
as  it  was  a  year  ago.  The  result  of  the  negotiations 
that  have  been  going  on  in  Rome,  and  are  now  con- 
cluded, has  not  yet  been  made  public.  But  enough  has 
been  shown,  in  the  subsequent  course  of  events,  to  en- 
able us  to  recognize  in  the  acts  of  the  Archbishop  the 
fixed  determination  of  the  bishops  to  uphold,  in  all  their 
magnitude,  those  pretensions  to  supreme  and  unlimited 
power  in  all  cases  of  collision  between  the  State  and  the 
hierarchy  which  have  hitherto  lain  dormant ;  and  to  at- 
tempt to  enforce  them  in  defiance  of  a  Government 
strong  only  in  the  power  of  right,  and  in  the  attachment 
to  law  by  which  its  enlightened  and  patriotic  population 
is  animated.  In  this  contest  the  Government  of  Baden 
is  the  champion  of  the  rights,  not  only  of  all  the  Prot- 


CONTEST  UNDECIDED.  147 

estant  Governments  of  Germany,  but  of  all  the  States 
that  have  resolved  not  to  sacrifice  their  own  independ- 
ence and  the  rights  of  their  subjects  on  the  altar  of  the 
canon  law.  The  issue  which  we  predict  will  be  a  bene- 
fit to  all  Governments,  and  to  the  clergy  in  the  country 
itself  What  are  the  expectations,  on  the  other  hand, 
of  the  hierarchists  we  learn  best  from  their  advocate  in 
the  voluminous  essay  already  referred  to  in  Cotta's 
Quarterly  Magazine  for  last  year.  After  having  in- 
formed us  that  two  hundred  and  forty  bishops,  and 
among  them  all  the  eighty-five  of  France,  have  ex- 
pressed their  sympathy  with  the  Archbishop  of  Fribourg, 
and  offered  him  their  congratulations  on  the  part  he  has 
taken,  he  draws  from  it  the  following  tragic-comic  con- 
clusion : 

"  Hence  it  appears  that  all  these  bishops  recognized  the  pre- 
tensions of  the  episcopacy  to  be  founded  on  the  canon  law.  The 
Pope,  as  the  supreme  judge  of  the  metropolitan,  has  decided  in 
his  favor ;  his  decision  has  thus  become  in  the  truest  sense  oecu- 
menical: according  to  the  law  of  nations  there  is  now  presented 
to  the  parties  or  guaranties  to  the  peace  of  Westphalia  and  the 
Final  Eesolution  of  the  Diet  of  1803,  by  this  decision  of  the 
Pope,  a  violation  of  the  treaties  which  they  have  pledged  them- 
selves to  maintain  intact.  What  should  hinder  these  powers 
from  availing  themselves  of  their  rights  in  order  to  restore 
peace  ?" 

Clearly  nothing  but  the  war  in  the  East !  As  soon 
as  this  is  over,  therefore,  the  French  and  Russians  are 
bound  to  invade  Germany  in  case  the  Baden  Govern- 
ment should  refuse  to  give  way,  and  the  Emperor  of 
Austria  fail  to  do  his  duty.  We  take  due  cognizance 
of  these  patriotic  opinions  and  hints,  not  to  call  them 
suggestions  and  instigations. 

There  only  remains  one  thing  more  for  us  to  do  in 


148  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

order  to  perceive  the  full  historical  import  of  the  contest 
between  the  hierarchy  and  the  State  ;  namely,  to  con- 
sider more  narrowly,  in  their  mutual  bearing,  the  three 
great  points  which  must  perpetually  bring  them  into 
collision.  This  I  purpose  to  do,  my  dear  friend,  in  my 
next  letter,  for  which  you  shall  not  have  to  wait  long. 


LETTER    ¥1. 

THE   CONFLICT  BETWEEN  THE   CIVIL  LEGISLATION  AND 


Charlottenberg,  June  26th,  1855. 

Verily,  my  Honored  Friend,  from  all  that  we  have 
had  to  relate  and  discuss  in  my  last  two  letters,  it  seems 
that  those  who  are  raising  the  standard  of  absolute 
Church  authority  against  the  State  are  in  bitter  earnest. 
And  they  are  waging  a  warfare  not  merely  against  the 
authority  and  majesty  of  civil  legislation  in  general,  but 
against  the  most  vital  elements  of  all  national  existence. 
For,  as  we  have  seen,  the  unconditional  law  of  the  hie- 
rarchy is  not  only,  by  its  very  nature  as  unconditional, 
incompatible  with  the  legal. conditions  of  an  independent 
State,  but  also  stands  in  an  attitude  of  equally  implaca- 
ble hostility  toward  the  intellectual  requirements  of  the 
age.  This  holds  good  with  regard  to  popular  education, 
which,  however,  can  not  be  suffered  to  remain  on  a  foot- 
ing utterly  at  variance  with  the  political  circumstances 
of  a  country,  nor  yet  be  surrendered  into  foreign  hands; 
and  is  equally  applicable  to  free  research  in  the  domain 
of  history.  The  natural  sciences  are,  at  length,  every- 
where allowed  free  scope;  but  philology  and  history, 
and  all  free  mental  and  moral  or  religious  philosophy, 
find  in  our  day  greater  obstacles  than  ever  from  the 


150  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

canon  law,  and  greater  resistance  than  ever  from  the 
hierarchy  which  takes  its  stand  upon  that  law. 

I  repeat  it :  what  I  have  said  is,  I  firmly  believe,  as 
true  of  a  Catholic  State  as  of  a  Protestant ;  and  in  saying 
it,  I  have  had  no  reference  to  any  particular  Christian 
confession.  The  immediate  question  before  us,  in  the 
first  instance,  simply  concerns  itself  with  the  law.  It  is 
a  question  of  the  final  consequences  of  that  system  which 
was  planted  by  Boniface,  but  which  he  carried  into 
practice  (for  he  could  not  do  otherwise)  with  modera- 
tion, and  kept  within  bounds.  Hence,  however,  it  is  a 
question  whose  root-principle  affects  the  stability  of  law 
in  all  European  States.  Catholic  as  well  as  Protestant, 
and  decides  the  future  prospects  of  mental  culture  jn 
Europe.  Yes ;  we  utter  no  exaggeration,  but  a  simple, 
unvarnished  fact,  when  we  say  that,  humanly  speaking, 
the  point  at  issue  is  the  civilization  and  freedom  of  the 
world,  so  far  as  Western  Europe  has  a  voice  in  the 
matter.  For  the  science  and  culture  which  place  our 
century  in  so  high  a  rank,  are  certainly  not  the  work  of 
this  hierarchy,  and  they  have  now  escaped  from  its 
guardianship,  as  formerly  from  its  persecution. 

In  the  first  instance,  we  shall  limit  our  attention  to 
the  relation  toward  the  State,  and,  ignoring  all  confes- 
sional considerations,  proceed  to  consider  those  three 
great  points  to  which  we  have  alluded ;  not  alone  the 
two  which  the  Wiirzburg  manifesto  places  in  the  fore- 
ground— education  and  Church  property ;  and  we  will 
begin  with  the  third,  whose  championship  the  Bishop 
commits  to  the  Pope,  namely,  marriage. 

According  to  the  views  of  the  hierarchical  or  Ultra- 
montane party,  it  is  pure  impiety  on  the  part  of  the 
State  to  make  the  validity  of  marriage,  and  its  legal 
consequences  in  the  legitimacy  of  the  children  and  the 


THE  CHURCH  AND  MARRIAGE.  151 

right  of  inheritance,  dependent  on  the  vow  or  declara- 
tion of  the  contracting  parties  before  a  civil  court,  and 
the  recording  of  their  union  in  the  registers  of  the 
State. 

For  the  last  three  centuries,  the  conscience  of  educated 
nations  has  raised  its  voice  in  opposition  to  this  view. 
And,  really,  one  would  be  ready  to  think  it  a  greater 
impiety  on  the  part  of  the  State  if  it  took  no  heed  to 
this  fundamental  pillar  of  its  own  existence.  Nay, 
its  Christian  character  consists  in  the  truly  Christian 
attitude  which  it  assumes  toward  the  conscience  of  the 
individual,  when  it  leaves  it  to  him  to  make  himself  a 
partaker  of  the  blessings  of  that  religious  community 
to  which  he  belongs.  At  an  early  date,  the  free  citizens 
of  the  Netherlands  had  sought  to  obtain  this  end  by 
establishing  a  so-called  civil  marriage  for  all  who  did 
not  belong  to  the  Reformed  Confession.  The  Prussian 
code  of  Frederic  the  Great  evidently  sets  the  same  end 
in  view.  But  the  Prussian  lawgiver  and  the  general 
sentiments  of  his  age  were  still  too  much  in  bondage  to 
the  juristic  and  historical  error  of  the  Reformers,  who 
imagined,  that  according  to  the  law  and  custom  of  prim- 
itive Christianity,  the  religious  rite  constituted  the  con- 
tract of  marriage,  instead  of  merely  hallowing  it;  whereas 
even  the  Romish  canonists  admit,  that  according  to  the 
ancient  Church,  the  mystery,  or  as  the  Western  Church 
expresses  it,  the  sacrament,  does  not  lie  in  the  pronounc- 
ing of  the  blessing,  but  in  the  consummation  of  the 
marriage  vow.  This  error  was  the  chief  source  of  the 
maxim  laid  down  by  the  Prussian  code,  that  the  ecclesi- 
astical ceremony  was  requisite  to  the  legal  validity  of  a 
marriage. 

The  Austrian  code  of  Joseph  II.,  already  mentioned, 
was  on  this  point  less  fettered  by  prejudice.     He  gave 


152  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

less  prominence  to  the  benediction  of  the  priest,  without, 
however,  directly  and  openly  reinstating  the  civil  cere- 
mony in  possession  of  its  old  rights.  To  have  effected 
this  in  a  logical  and  consistent  manner,  is  the  immortal 
merit  of  Napoleon  the  Great,  and  of  the  eminent  jurists 
and  statesmen  whom  he  gathered  round  him.  In  En- 
gland, Peel,  the  greatest  English  statesman  of  the  age, 
has  paved  the  way  for  the  introduction  of  this  wise 
measure;  while  observing  due  respect  to  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  the  country  and  the  existing  usage, 
according  to  which  a  marriage  was  formerly  valid  only 
when  performed  in  the  Episcopal  Church.  Peel  re- 
dressed this  grievance  on  behalf  of  all  Protestant  dis- 
senters, and  established  civil  registers,  under  the  man- 
agement of  lay  officials.  The  Episcopal  clergy  are  still 
able  to  solemnize  all  marriages,  and  retain  their  own 
books  of  registration,  in  which  every  marriage  solemnized 
by  them  is  entered  immediately  after  the  religious  cere- 
mony, in  the  same  form  as  by  the  civil  registrar ;  and 
is,  indeed,  registered  twice — once  in  the  parish  book, 
and  then  in  the  quarterly  return  sent  in  to  the  superin- 
tendent registrar.  The  ninteenth  article  of  the  Prus- 
sian Constitution  holds  out  a  prospect  of  the  introduction 
of  civil  marriage  by  a  special  law. 

The  justification  of  civil  marriage  is  generally  based 
merely  on  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  State,  and  this 
justification  is  perfectly  adequate  in  the  sphere  of  law. 
But  it  is  time  to  expose  the  hypocrisy,  or  at  least  to 
unvail  the  absurdity,  of  the  assertion  now  boldly  revived, 
that  an  enforced  religious  solemnization  is  more  conso- 
nant with  Christianity.  It  is,  on  the  contrary,  precisely 
from  the  Christian  point  of  view  that  civil  marriage 
derives  its  recommendation.  It  alone  is  entirely  in 
consonance  with  Christianity,  and  therefore  pre-emi- 


CIYIL  MARRIAGE.  153 

nently  favorable  to  the  highest  good  of  peoples  and 
states — namely,  religion ;  inasmuch  as  it  lays  aside  coer- 
cion, and  gives,  or  rather  restores,  to  a  religious  rite  its 
voluntary  character.  For  Christianity  can  only  exert 
a  power  for.  changing  men's  hearts,  in  so  far  as  the 
religious  acts  of  the  individual  are  freed  from  all  con- 
straint. Civil  society,  when,  having  culminated  in  a 
polity,  it  has  risen  to  the  full  consciousness  of  its  divine 
vocation,  tolerates  no  legal  coercion  but  that  of  the  laws 
of  the  land,  with  whose  maintenance  the  State  alone  is 
chargeable.  But  neither  can  the  Christian  religion, 
when  awakened  to  the  consciousness  of  its  own  inward 
and  personal  nature,  tolerate  any  coercion — still  less 
desire  or  demand  it.  The  universal  conscience  of  Chris- 
tian men  has  long  ago  perceived  that  God's  blessing 
rests  only  on  such  religious  acts  as  are  voluntarily  per- 
formed. In  our  day  this  sentiment  has  found  its  verifi- 
cation in  facts ;  not  only  in  France,  but  in  the  Rhenish 
provinces.  The  facts  adduced  by  Siisskind  with  regard 
to  Belgium,  to  prove  the  contrary,  and  of  which  the 
retrograde  party  so  gladly  avail  themselves,  have  arisen 
from  the  unique  position  assumed  by  this  almost  ex- 
clusively Catholic  country  toward  the  clergy,  who  are 
endeavoring  to  gain  political  supremacy.  In  the  coun^ 
tries  referred  to,  the  feeling  of  the  sacredness  of  the 
religious  act  has  not  diminished,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
increased  where  it  exists ;  and  has  now  revived  even  where 
it  seemed  to  have  died  out.  The  experience  of  England 
and  the  United  States  yields  the  same  result,  as  every 
oue  knows  who  is  acquainted  with  the  internal  affairs  of 
those  countries.  To  protect  the  Catholics  from  coercion 
was  also  the  object  of  that  regulation  in  the  Prussian 
code,  which  secures  to  Catholic  couples  the  right  of 
being  married  in  a  Protestant  church  where  no  objec 


154  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

tions  to  their  union  exist  on  the  score  of  morality  or  the 
provisions  of  the  common  law.  But  the  means  are 
inadequate  to  the  end,  and  the  requirement  of  any  ec- 
clesiastical ceremony  whatever  rests  upon  an  error. 
Even  the  law  of  Joseph  II.  (now,  as  it  seems,  set 
aside),  although  not  clearly  expressing  the  simply  relig- 
ious significance  of  the  ecclesiastical  ceremony,  is  a  step 
toward  the  right  path,vwhich  Napoleon  at  length  entered 
upon.  Thus  both  the  German  codes  deserve,  to  a  certain 
extent,  our  gratitude  and  approbation  in  behalf  of  Chris- 
tianity and  civil  liberty. 

Under  Napoleon,  in  1801,  Rome  had  perceived  that 
his  system  was  not  inconsistent  with  the  general  defini- 
tions of  the  canon  law,  nor  with  the  usages  of  the  an- 
cient church ;  but  since  1850  she  can  no  longer  be 
made  to  comprehend  this.  Wherefore  ?  The  Ultra- 
montane party — which  raised  its  head  again  upon  the 
restoration  of  the  Bourbons,  and  after  the  death  of  Pius 
VII.,  in  1823,  became  the  ruling  influence  at  Rome — 
thinks,  in  its  blind  fanaticism,  that  the  salvation  of  the 
Church  lies  in  the  restoration  of  this  error  of  the  dark 
ages.  But  the  main  ground  of  the  hatred  with  which 
the  hierarchy  in  general  regard  civil  marriage  is,  that 
they  descry  in  it  the  means  whereby  the  State  emanci- 
pates itself  and  the  consciences  of  its  subjects  from  the 
yoke  of  the  clergy.  And  this  is  the  very  end  to  be  at- 
tained. It  is,  indeed,  high  time  that  the  scientific 
jurists  of  Germany  should  rise  to  this  point  of  view. 
But,  as  yet,  there  still  evidently  lingers  a  religious 
prejudice  against  civil  marriage  in  the  minds  of  some 
of  the  leaders  of  our  so-called  historical,  or  more  truly 
Romish-romantic,  school  of  jurisprudence.  Lastly,  the 
objections  raised  by  the  Lutheranistic  theologians  against 
civil  marriage  only  furnish  a  new  proof  of  the  utter  in- 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  155 

capacity  of  this  class  to  conceive  any  clear  notions  of 
jurisprudence,  or  to  enter  into  the  realities  of  the  world 
around  them.  Beaten  on  the  field  of  history,  and  driven 
from  the  position  they  had  taken  up  in  politics,  they  fall 
back  on  the  religious  feeling  of  the  multitude. 

Upon  this  point,  then,  an  open  war  is  being  waged  at 
this  moment  between  the  Pope  and  the  Sardinian  Gov- 
ernment, under  which  the  real  point  at  issue  is  concealed, 
namely,  that  of  toleration  in  general,  together  with  the 
rights  of  Church  property,  and  the  suppression  of  mon- 
asteries in  favor  of  the  parochial  clergy.  An  attempt 
will  be  made  to  give  the  struggle  a  religious  coloring, 
by  bringing  prominently  forward  the  question  regarding 
marriage,  while  forgetting  that  the  example  of  the  neigh- 
boring countries  of  France  and  Belgium  gives  the  lie  to 
these  accusations  of  irreligion.  Thus  here,  too,  we  find 
a  contest  which  can  only  end  with  the  surrender  of  un- 
conditional pretensions ;  and  these  are  evidently  in  this 
case  on  the  side  of  the  hierarchy. 

The  second  point  is  that  of  education.  On  this  ques- 
tion, also,  before  the  present  raising  of  their  standard 
by  the  hierarchical  party,  a  practical  settlement  which 
gave  general  satisfaction  had  been  attained.  With  re- 
gard to  the  education  of  the  clergy,  all  Germany,  with 
Prussia  at  its  head,  had  adopted  the  system  of  Joseph 
II. ;  the  clerical  training  to  follow  the*  general  course 
of  study  in  the  national  high  school,  the  university  to 
precede  the  episcopal  seminary.  Prussia,  especially, 
had  thoroughly  carried  out  this  system,  with  regard  to 
the  appointment  of  theological  tutors  at  her  universities, 
while  observing  all  respect  toward  the  rights  of  the 
bishops.  Rome  was  acquainted  with  the  system  before 
and  during  the  negotiations,  and  had  nothing  to  say 
against  it.    In  fact,  its  greatest  crime  in  the  eyes  of  the 


156  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

hierarchy  was,  that  its  provisions  left  nothing  to  object 
to,  so  long  as  they  were  as  yet  unwilling  or  unable  to 
prefer  their  unlimited  pretensions.  According  to  the 
prescriptions  of  the  Council  of  Trent — the  only  ordi- 
nances respecting  the  episcopal  seminaries  received  in 
Germany — the  great  episcopal  seminaries  for  priests 
opened  their  doors  to  a  young  man  after  he  had  passed 
through  the  university  under  ecclesiastical  superintend- 
ence, and  thus  received  a  preliminary  training  as  a  man 
and  a  citizen.  Within  his  seminary  the  bishop  reigned 
alone.  The  position  in  which  these  institutions  stand 
toward  the  university,  was  not  only  unassailed  by  the 
clergy,  but  regarded  with  gratitude  by  the  majority  of 
them,  as  it  was-  by  the  Catholic  population  in  general. 
In  fact,  the  Governments  had  simply  acted  by  the  advice 
of  pious  Catholic  bishops  and  jurisconsults,  when  they 
established  things  on  this  footing.  The  institutions 
they  founded  had  raised  the  clerical  profession  from  a 
state  of  ignorance  and  general  contempt,  to  refinement 
and  scholarship,  and  to  corresponding  respect  from  the 
public.  The  first  Archbishop  of  Cologne,  after  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  see  and  chapter,  found  a  seminary 
dating  from  the  time  of  the  French  occupation,  in  which 
the  larger  part  of  the  pupils  could  barely  read  the  text 
of  the  Latin  mass,  far  less  explain  it.  Now,  the  pupils 
of  the  same  seminary  compete  successfully  with  their 
Protestant  fellow-candidates  for  the  prizes  given  for 
scientific  essays,  and  in  other  learned  labors.  With 
regard  to  popular  education,  things  have  taken  a  similar 
course.  The  reform  in  primary  instruction,  and  the 
establishment  of  seminaries  for  schoolmasters,  accom- 
plished by  that  excellent  and  pious  ecclesiastic.  Prince 
Egon  Von  Fiirstenberg,  and  the  system  pursued  in 
Prussia,  are  the  fruit  of  the  same  spirit.     They  pursue 


EXPERIENCE  OF  BELGIUM.  157 

the  same  end  by  similar  methods  and  regulations.  Why, 
then,  are  we  suddenly  told  that  all  this  is  godless,  an 
oppression  of  the  Church,  an  insult  to  episcopal  rights, 
a  corruption  of  the  Catholic  people?  Very  simply, 
because  since  1848  the  Ultramontane  party  has  thought 
itself  strong  enough  to  govern  at  will  State  and  people, 
if  it  can  but  get  the  mastery  over  the  clergy  as  well  as 
the  populace ;  or  because  it  despairs  of  ruling  the  peo- 
ple any  longer  on  any  other  system.  The  blindness  or 
absolutism  of  this  faction  is  so  great,  that  they  do  not 
even  perceive  that  it  is  precisely  the  Catholic  Govern- 
ments whom  they  endanger  the  most  by  the  course  they 
are  pursuing — the  Catholic  States  which  they  are  under- 
mining, and  the  Catholic  populations  which  they  are 
lowering  more  and  more  in  general  estimation,  and 
whom  they  will,  in  the  end,  exasperate  and  drive  to 
despair.  I  pass  over,  at  present,  the  clerical  party  in 
Belgium,  who  are  somewhat  incautiously  boasting  of  the 
Catholic  feeling  of  the  nation,  and  of  the  share  which 
their  own  body  has  taken  in  raising  the  nation  to  inde- 
pendence. They  forget  that  the  nation  won  its  freedom 
under  the  banner  of  universal  liberty.  While  a  com- 
plete separation  of  the  Church  from  the  State  subsists 
as  far  as  regards  administration  (for  it  draws  from  the 
State  the  means  of  subsistence),  the  Government  finds 
increasing  support  from  the  country  against  the  pre- 
tensions of  the  clergy  to  the  exclusive  direction  of  pub- 
lic education,  more  especially  from  the  majority  of  the 
leading  men  in  the  nation,  and  from  the  cities  of  ancient 
celebrity. 

As  in  France  (whose  code,  including  the  organic  ar- 
ticles of  Napoleon's  concordat,  is  in  use  in  Belgium), 
the  bishops  are  now  seeking  to  contrive  embarrassments 
for  the  Government,  or,  in  other  words,  to  purchase  in- 


158  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

tolerance  by  their  abuse  of  the  right  accorded  to  them, 
of  appointing  a  priest  to  give  religious  instruction  in  the 
lyceums  or  public  high  schools.  But  it  is  clear  that 
this  means  of  coercion,  like  any  other,  must  wear  itself 
out  by  use.  Meanwhile,  the  experience  of  this  State 
during  the  twenty-five  years  it  has  been  in  existence,  is 
altogether  in  favor  of  the  free  university  of  Brussels  and 
the  national  lyceums,  as  compared  with  the  Catholic 
university  of  Louvain,  and  the'  episcopal  seminaries. 
The  latter  have  hardly  arisen  above  the  corresponding 
provincial  institutions  of  France,  while  the  national  uni- 
versity is  rising  more  and  more  to  the  level  of  the  age ; 
and  even  in  the  departments  of  mental  philosophy  and 
philology,  may  challenge  compatrison  with  the  first  uni- 
versities of  Europe. 

In  France  itself,  once  the  cradle  of  philological  sci- 
ence, and  long  the  seat  of  learning  among  the  Catholic 
clergy,  the  aspect  of  affairs  is  yet  more  discouraging. 
The  Ultramontane  bishops  have  not  been  ashamed  of  the 
barbarism  of  endeavoring  to  banish  classical  studies  as  a 
homage  rendered  to  paganism ;  and  they  have  already 
succeeded  so  far,  that  the  older  French  clergy  can 
hardly  point  to  one  distinguished  Latin  scholar  in  their 
ranks,  and  in  Greek  not  a  single  one.  A  more  gener- 
ous spirit  seems  awakening  in  the  younger  generation, 
and  they  are  not  Ultramontane.  It.  is  this  extreme 
party  which  has  given  the  French  Government  so  much 
trouble  by  throwing  obstacles  in  the  way  of  a  fair  and 
reasonable  execution  of  the  Code  Napoleon.  It  barters 
to  the  Government  and  the  prefects  its  co-operation  in 
the  educational  institutions  of  the  State,  in  return  for 
the  unjust,  and  often  positively  illegal,  exclusion  of  the 
Protestants  from  their  benefits,  and  the  closing  of  Prot- 
estant churches.     It  is  the  moving  spring  of  the  attack 


ULTRAMONTANE  BARBARISM.  159 

made  upon  the  property  of  the  Protestant  Church  in 
Strasburg — the  foundation  of  St.  Thomas — which  was 
guaranteed  to  the  Protestants  by  Louis  XIV.  himself, 
and  solemnly  recognized  as  belonging  to  them  by  Na- 
poleon I.  ;  an  affair  for  the  just  and  liberal  settlement  of 
which  England  and  Germany  look  with  trust,  not  un- 
mingled  with  anxiety,  to  the  present  emperor.  But 
what  is  the  character  of  the  influence  exerted  by  this 
party  on  the  popular  mind,  is  proved  by  one  circum- 
stance, among  many  that  might  be  named,  which  took 
place  last  year  in  an  important  town  of  Burgundy.  At 
the  time  of  the  cholera,  the  magistrates  found  themselves 
obliged  to  advise  the  six  or  seven  wealthy  Protestant 
families  who  resided  there,  to  retire  into  the  country 
while  the  pestilence  lasted,  because  the  populace  (the 
same  which  in  1848  was  red  to  a  man)  had  been  stirred 
up  to  burn  them  the  next  night  in  their  houses,  as  an  ac- 
ceptable offering  to  the  Holy  Virgin,  who  was  visiting 
the  city  with  the  plague  on  account  of  the  presence  of 
those  heretics.     So  much  for  education  ! 

The  third  point  for  our  consideration  is  the  manage- 
ment of  Church  property.  Here,  too,  it  is  easy  to  de- 
monstrate that  an  irreconcilable  contrariety  subsists 
between  the  demands  of  the  Ultramontane  party,  the 
necessities  of  society,  and  the  rights  of  the  State.  No 
description  of  civil  polity  can  less  afford  to  give  way  to 
these  unlimited  pretensions  to  supremacy  than  the 
Christian  State  of  our  day — the  State  which  is  working 
its  way  up  from  revolution  and  bloodshed  to  order,  civil 
liberty,  and  mental  culture,  and  endeavoring  to  raise  it- 
self from  poverty  and  financial  embarrassment  to  pros- 
perity and  power ;  in  other  words,  the  Continental 
State  of  the  nineteenth  century,  in  so  far  as  it  is  yet 
capable  of  life  in  the  year  of  grace  1855.     According 


160  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

to  the  Ultramontanes,  the  bishops  are  the  sole  deposit- 
aries and  administrators  of  Church  property.  So  says 
the  Archbishop  of  Fribourg,  so  says  Bishop  Ketteler  of 
Mayence,  so  their  juristic  champion,  the  Baron  von 
Linde,  the  representative  of  the  principality  of  Lichten- 
stein  in  the  German  Bund.  Prussia  will  perform  the 
promises  she  has  given  with  regard  to  the  endowments^ 
but  she  can  not  recognize  the  bishops  and  chapters  as 
proprietors  of  the  Church  revenues.  To  do  so  would  be 
as  unjust  toward  the  Catholic  laity  as  it  would  be  sui- 
cidal for  the  State.  Catholic  Belgium  has  no  more  con- 
ceded this  than  France.  And  Baden  can  as  little  con- 
cede it,  as  the  State  of  New  York  can  allow  Bishop 
Hughes  to  be  the  sole  administrator  of  a  fund  amount- 
ing to  five  million  dollars.  The  public  will  insist  on  the 
Church  property  being  managed  by  committees  of  lay- 
men, who,  under  the  superintendence  of  the  bishops, 
and  in  conjunction  with  the  parochial  clergy,  will  ad- 
minister the  moneys  belonging  to  foundations,  and  render 
a  public  account  of  their  expenditure.  On  the  Conti- 
nent, also,  and  especially  in  Germany,  these  freer  forms 
will  have  to  be  generally  adopted.  From  official  tute- 
lage, an  advance  will  gradually  be  made  to  administra- 
tion by  Catholic  corporations. 

We  have  asked  for  freedom.  The  bishops  assembled 
at  Wiirzburg  in  1848  also  demanded  freedom ;  freedom 
is  what  Bishop  Ketteler  calls  for  ;  but  only  freedom  for 
themselves,  for  the  Church,  i.e.,  for  the  corporation  of 
bishops  under  the  sway  of  Rome.  They  demanded  the 
right  of  association  when  all  demanded  or  possessed  it ; 
they  attempt  to  e:Jercise  it  when  all  others  have  been 
wholly  or  partially  deprived  of  it. 

Belgium  and  Sardinia  maintain  their  ground  against 
the  storm,  and  withstand  the  machinations  of  this  party 


WAR  ON  CONSCIENCE.  161 

only  by  means  of  their  legally  established  political  free- 
dom ;  for,  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  constitu- 
tional monarchy  has  proved  itself  as  mighty,  as  despot- 
ism has  impotent,  to  sustain  this  contest.  Belgium  and 
Sardinia  are  flourishing,  and  develop  daily  new  energy 
and  vitality,  while  in  Spain  every  thing  is  at  the  mercy 
of  the  next  turn  of  the  cards,  because  an  immoral  and 
imbecile  dynasty  has  for  the  last  few  years  given  ear  to 
the  reckless  reactionary  instigations  of  this  party,  and 
open  civil  war  is  impending. 

Which  way,  then,  is  the  current  setting?  Is  the 
hierarchy  rising  or  falling  in  the  balance?  Is  canon 
law,  in  all  its  absolutism,  the  last  word  of  the  century, 
or  legality  with  its  liberties,  of  which  the  only  secure 
foundation  is  liberty  of  conscience  ?  Freedom  of  con- 
science !  But  it  is  precisely  with  the  conscience  and  its 
liberty  that  the  hierarchy  wages  the  most  implacable 
and  deadly  warfare.  To  consider  this  warfare  and  the 
Signs  of  the  Times  as  exhibited  by  the  recent  cases  of 
persecution  in  our  own  day,  shall  be  the  business  of  my 
next  letter. 


lETTER    VII 


AND   THE   RECENT    PERSECUTIONS. 

CHARLOTTENBERa,  June  29th,  1855. 
Feast  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul. 

The  hierarchical  celebrations  of  the  centenary  festival 
in  Mayence,  my  honored  friend,  reached  their  close  more 
than  a  week  ago,  and  without  eliciting,  as  far  as  we  have 
been  able  to  hear,  any  remarkable  sign  of  popular  sym- 
pathy. We  ourselves,  however,  will  continue  the  train 
of  meditation  awakened  by  this  festival,  which  we  be- 
gan on  the  day  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  with  his  solemn 
warning  to  repentance  for  our  text.  On  this  day,  con- 
secrated to  the  memory  of  the  two  great  Apostles,  let 
us  rise  to  the  full  light  of  apostolic  knowledge.  From 
the  heights  of  a  Scriptural  acquaintance  with  the  doc- 
trine and  labors  of  these  two  princes  among  the  Apostles, 
let  us  cast  one  free  and  joyful  glance  behind  us  on  the 
original  subject  of  our  meditations,  and  on  that  eighth 
century,  when  the  Church  existed  with  all  its  members 
fully  developed  and  organized ;  and  then  let  us  turn  to 
our  serious  work  of  to-day,  and  fix  our  eyes  on  the 
miseries  of  the  present. 

First,  then,  let  us  draw  an  apostolic  motto  and  in- 
spiration for  meditations  embracing  so  vast  a  portion  of 
history,  from  the  heart  of  the  primitive  Christian  con- 
sciousness of  these  two  great  Apostles  of  the  Lord. 


OUR  MOTTOES.  163 

When  I  strive  to  bring  clearly  before  me  the  image  of 
those  two  preachers  of  the  Gospel,  on  whom  so  great  a 
blessiQg  rested,  I  behold  men  of  the  Spirit,  moved  by 
the  purest  love  to  man,  who  were  persecuted  even  unto 
death,  but  who  never  persecuted,  who  did  not  revile  nor 
curse  their  enemies.  I  behold  Apostles  and  disciples 
who,  through  love  and  patience,  overcame,  first  their 
own  not  unimportant  differences  of  opinion  with  regard 
to  the  first  forming  of  the  Christian  communities,  and 
then  the  strifes  between  their  several  parties.  In  the 
words  of  the  Spirit  and  of  love,  which  they  have  be- 
queathed to  us,  we  must  inevitably  find  the  best  solution 
for  our  task.  Yes,  we  will  take  their  words  with  us  as 
our  guiding  star  on  a  road  full  of  serious  difficulties, 
and  lying  from  time  to  time  amid  painful  scenes. 

Our  first  motto  from  St.  Peter  shall  be  this  :  "  Add 
to  your  faith  virtue  ;  and  to  virtue  knowledge  ;  and  to 
knowledge  temperance ;  and  to  temperance  patience ; 
and  to  patience  godliness ;  and  to  godliness  brotherly 
kindness  ;  and  to  brotherly  kindness  charity'''  (1  Pet. 
i.,  5-7).  Our  second  shall  be  the  passage  where  the 
Apostle  applies  the  great  saying  of  the  Old  Testament 
to  the  people  of  God  and  all  Christians  :  "Ye  are  a 
chosen  generation,  a  royal  priesthood,  a  holy  nation,  a 
peculiar  people  ;  that  ye  should  show  forth  the  praises 
of  Him  who  hath  called  you  out  of  darkness  into  His 
marvelous  light"  (1  Pet.  ii.  9).  But  from  St.  Paul 
we  are  content  with  the  one  saying,  ''  Where  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty"  (2  Cor.  iii.  17).  Such 
cautions  and  such  guiding  stars  are  indeed  needed  oi;- 
the  thorny  track  of  meditation  for  which  we  must  now 
prepare  ;  for  our  present  task  is  to  display  the  ungodli- 
ness and  immorality  of  religious  persecution,  to  unvaii 
the  horrors  to  which  it  is  afresh  giving  rke,  and  to  reach 


164  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

a  point  whence  we  may  hope  to  behold  the  simple  and 
infallible  solution  of  our  present  perplexities. 

Let  us  begin,  then,  with  St.  Boniface  as  our  starting- 
point. 

Boniface  fell  a  victim  to  religious  persecution,  if  we 
assume,  as  it  seems  most  probable,  that  the  attack  of 
the  heathen  Frisians  was  prompted  by  religious  hatred. 
But  Boniface  himself  made  use  of  persecutions  against 
Clemens,  and  delivered  him  over  to  the  secular  arm  of 
Pepin,  and  to  the  prison  in  which  he  disappears  from 
view.  Aldebert,  the  other  theological  opponent  of 
Boniface,  escaped  from  confinement,  and  was  found 
murdered  by  shepherds. 

Did  Clemens  die  in  prison?  History  knows  only 
that  he  vanishes  from  her  scene. 

Boniface  founded  an  hierarchical  system,  from  which 
more  persecution  has  proceeded  than  from  any  other — 
possibly  only  because  it  has  been  the  mightiest ;  the  fact 
is  incontestable.  But  even  Protestant  hierarchies  have 
leagued  with  the  power  of  the  State  to  persecute.  Thus 
the  Lutherans  persecuted  the  Calvinists,  the  Anglicans 
persecuted  the  Puritans.  Under  Cromwell,  a  Puritan 
Parliament  for  a  few  years  imitated,  but  did  not  equal 
the  hierarchies ;  the  execution  of  Servetus  in  free 
Geneva,  under  Calvin,  is  quite  a  solitary  instance. 
The  Lutheran  clergy  alone  can  lay  claim  to  be  ranked 
with  the  Roman  hierarchy  in  what  they  have  accom- 
plished— their  limited  power  being  taken  into  due  ac- 
count. 

The  Church  condemns  religious  persecution  in  gen- 
eral; her  own  is  an  exception,  because  she. is  right  while 
all  others  are  wrong.  She  washes  her  hands  of  blood. 
She  herself  never  condemns  to  death  ;  but  the  laws  in 
virtue  of  which  the  State  does  it  are  required,  approved, 


RETROSPECT   OF  HISTORY.  165 

brought  to  pass  by  her ;  only  so  that  her  left  hand 
knoweth  not  what  her  right  hand  doeth.  The  Pope 
does  not  desire  a  St.  Bartholomew's  night — probably  he 
never  even  advises  it ;  but  he  celebrates  its  success  by 
feasts  and  medals,  and  by  adorning  the  princely  ante- 
chamber with  splendid  paintings.  Bossuet  finds  it  quite 
natural  that  the  Albigenses  (and  the  Waldenses  with 
them)  should  be  burnt,  and  sees  simple  justice  in  the 
system  of  Louis  XIY.  toward  the  Huguenots,  with  its 
galleys  and  dragonades.  And  Bossuet  was  a  pious  and 
highly-cultivated  bishop,  the  eloquent  defender  of  the 
rights  of  his  Church. 

Is  religion,  then,  really  persecution  ?  Is  persecution 
really  religion  ?  Is  the  zeal  of  an  inquisitor  really  the 
natural  consequence  of  the  sincerity  of  his  belief,  and 
the  earnestness  of  his  heart?  Is  Christianity,  there- _ 
fore,  the  religion  of  persecution,  and  intolerance  the  zeal 
of  Christian  faith  ? 

Not  alone  the  primitive  records  of  Christianity,  but 
all  noble  hearts  among  all  nations  and  tongues  cry  with 
their  myriad  voices.  No,  and  forever  No  ! 

The  solution  of  the  strangest  of  all  enigmas  lies  here, 
too,  near  at  hand  in  the  human  heart  and  its  divine 
mirror,  the  world's  history,  for  every  one  who  believes 
in  a  moral  order  of  the  world. 

Let  us  then,  my  honored  friend,  before  we  have  to 
speak  of  our  age,  of  our  German  fatherland,  of  the  very 
present  day,  look  around  for  a  moment  on  history.  We 
shall  then  easily  perceive  that  the  principle  of  intolerance 
is  latent  in  every  existing  religion,  and  in  every  religi- 
ous body,  by  virtue  of  the  self-seeking  principle  in  the 
natural  man.  But  the  divine  deed  of  redemption  from 
selfishness  is  meant  to  set  man  free  from  the  rule  of  this 
principle  in  his  nature.     That  a  religion  does  this  is  the 


166  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

surest  pledge  of  its  divine  origin ;  that  a  State  recognizes 
liberty  of  conscience — that  is,  the  right  of  free  religious 
association  according  to  law — is  an  equally  certain  proof 
that  it  is  a  Christian  State,  while  persecution,  oppression, 
and  coercion  in  religious  matters  must  be  held  proofs  of 
the  contrary. 

It  is  very  intelligible  that  the  selfish  principle  of 
nature  should  be  especially  active  in  the  field  of  religion. 
Every  society  within  the  State,  every  corporation,  bears 
within  it  the  germ  of  a  temptation  to  concentrated  self- 
ishness. The  member  of  such  a  society  may  seem  to 
others,  nay,  to  himself  also,  to  be  acting  in  an  unselfish, 
self-sacrificing  manner,  while  he  is  really  only  minister- 
ing to  a  more  intense  selfishness,  by  regarding  the  society 
as  an  end  in  itself,  instead  of  a  means.  But  this  danger 
is  particularly  great  in  matters  of  religion. 

Religion  is  the  highest  divine  symbol  of  unity,  whether 
in  the  household,  the  tribe,  the  nation,  or  the  State.  It 
is  our  God  whom  we  defend  or  avenge  when  we  are  filled 
with  zeal  against  those  of  an  opposite  faith.  But  to 
appropriate  what  belongs  to  God  is  the  very  essence  of  all 
selfishness,  the  true  Fall  of  man,  who  would  fain  be  the 
master  of  goodness  and  truth,  not  their  voluntary  serv- 
ant. This  danger  grows  with  the  deepening  conscious- 
ness of  national  unity,  and  the  civilization  which  attends 
this  consciousness.  The  more  religion  is  absorbed  into 
the  mind,  and  is  conceived  as  essentially  bound  up  with 
the  moral  law  of  the  universe  and  of  conscience,  the  more 
will  the  idea  of  purity  and  godliness  become  attached  to 
our  faith,  and  that  of  impurity  and  ungodliness  to  the 
faith  of  our  opponents.  They  are  our  enemies  because 
they  are  despisers  of  God — that  is,  despisers  of  our  God. 
Why,  else,  should  they  not  worship  him  with  vs?  Thus 
the  natural  man  calls  his  neighbors  who  speak  another 


BIGOTRY  IN  EGYPT.       ^  167 

language  ayXuiocoi^  in  contrast  to  fiEponeg  dvdpcjnoL ;  he 
scornfully  calls  them  barbarians,  in  contrast  to  the  intel- 
ligent human  being. 

Hence,  too,  it  comes,  probably,  that  we  find  that  the 
great  nations  of  history,  who  possess  a  spiritual  and 
manly  consciousness  of  God,  have  been  more  intolerant 
and  given  to  persecution  when  they  have  followed  the 
bent  of  their  natural  inclinations,  than  races  occupying 
a  low  place  in  the  scale  of  civilization. 

The  Egyptians,  with  their  hostile  local  deities,  differ- 
ing in  every  province,  would  have  mutually  annihilated 
each  other,  and  rendered  the  existence  of  a  national 
conunonwealth  impossible,  had  not  their  primitive  union 
in  the  common  worship  of  Osiris  deprived  this  stubborn 
principle  of  nature — fostered  though  it  was  by  their 
fragmentary  and  distorted  conception  of  God — of  much 
of  its  fanatical  and  barbarizing  influence.  Hence,  in 
Hadrian's  time,  the  killing  of  a  cat  could  raise  the  whole 
city  of  Bubastis  in  revolt  against  the  garrison ;  for  it 
was  owr  sacred  cat  which  the  Roman  soldier  had  killed. 
The  belief  in  the  goddess  Pakht,  whose  symbol  was  a 
cat,  could  not  be  otherwise  vindicated  than  by  taking 
vengeance  on  the  murderer,  who  had  probably  thought 
of  nothing  but  ridding  himself  of  a  troublesome  animal. 
It  was  not  that  it  symbolized  the  powers  of  nature,  as 
many  ancient  forms  of  worship  did,  but  that  it  repre- 
sented in  a  symbolical  form  the  consciousness  of  the 
eternal  relation  of  the  human  soul  to  the  Soul  of  the 
universe — ^to  the  merciful  God  who  rules  over  the  living 
and  the  dead — which  made  the  worship  of  Osiris  a  bond 
of  peace  and  unity,  and  gave  it  power  to  overcome  the 
baser  selfish  principle. 

Possessing  no  such  central  consciousness,  Phoenicia 
and  Syria  sank  beneath  the  devil-worship  of  the  child- 


168  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

devouring  Moloch.  But  this  consciousness  is  neither 
new  nor  self-invented.  Abraham  found  it  already  ex- 
isting, not  only  in  his  own  heart,  but  in  the  pious  tradi- 
tions of  a  primeval  world.  With  an  inspiration  that  was 
truly  of  God,  because  truly  moral,  he  made  the  holiest 
treasure  of  his  own  heart  the  holiest  possession  of  his 
household,  which  in  the  course  of  a  century  became  a 
peculiar  people,  through  the  free  spirit  of  this  faith  in 
God.  But  hardly  had  this  conception  of  God  become 
the  national  religion  of  the  Jews,  when  this  people  began 
to  act  and  feel  as  though  the  God  of  heaven  and  earth 
were  their  God  only.  What  would  have  become  of  them 
without  the  constant  assaults  of  the  outer  world,  and  the 
prophets  awakened  by  their  troubles,  who  exalted  the 
spiritual  and  human  elements  in  the  religion  of  Jehovah 
above  the  formalism  of  the  temple  worship,  and  pointed 
to  love  as  the  fulfilling  of  the  law?  And  yet  the  last 
great  historical  act  of  the  Jews,  before  their  death- 
struggle  with  the  Romans,  was  a  murder  of  intolerance, 
followed  by  a  fanatical  religious  persecution  of  the  dis- 
ciples of  Him  who  had  been  legally  murdered  with  the 
forms  of  justice. 

Finally,  Mohammed,  from  a  heretic  persecuted  as  an 
atheist,  became  the  persecuting  founder  of  a  new  re- 
ligion. 

The  Arian  races  appear  in  very  early  times  to  have 
been  remarkably  enlightened  but  exclusive  and  persecut- 
ing people — the  Sledes  and  Indians,  no  less  than  the 
Babylonians  and  Assyrians.  It  can  be  shown  that  their 
wars  were  often  religious  wars,  like  that  of  the  founder 
of  the  second  Babylonian  dynasty,  Zoroaster,  King  of 
Bactria,  in  the  twenty-third  century  before  Christ. 

The  most  intellectually-gifted  nation  of  the  world,  the 
Hellenes,  with  the  Athenians  at  their  head,  were  unable 


HELLENIC  INTOLERANCE.  169 

to  conceive  of  religion  without  persecution.  The  Athenian 
people  tolerated  vain  babblers  and  sophists,  but  it  exiled 
Anaxagoras,  and  condemned  Socrates  to  death  as  an 
atheist.  The  humanizing  and  uniting  principle  of  the 
Hellenic  religion  lay  partly  in  its  mysteries,  partly  in 
the  sacred  national  festivals  of  the  Hellenes,  in  which 
the  national  religion  took  the  form  of  a  union,  and  partly 
in  the  consciousness  of  God  which  philosophy  had 
bestowed  on  her  thinkers  and  citizens.  All  these  were 
counteracting  elements  to  the  selfish  zeal  of  persecution, 
and  diffused  a  spirit  of  generous  toleration  and  humane 
civilization. 

Toward  the  external  world  the  Romans  were,  and 
always  remained,  a  persecution-loving  people,  notwith- 
standing the  union  of  different  races  in  religion  as  in 
civil  polity  which  had  taken  place  within  Rome  itself  at 
the  commencement  of  its  history.  But  they  showed  this 
spirit  less  than  the  Greeks.  When  they  first  began  to 
spread  themselves  abroad,  they  came  in  contact  only 
with  kindred  forms  of  worship — above  all,  an  ennobling 
and  spiritual  Hellenism.  When  they  penetrated  into 
the  barbarian  world  they  had  already  become  too  super- 
stitious, on  the  one  hand,  to  be  willing  unnecessarily  to 
make  enemies  of  the  strange  gods,  and  too  practical,  on 
the  other,  to  allow  religious  disputes  to  hinder  them  in 
the  spread  of  Roman  law  and  civilization,  and  in  the 
possession  and  enjoyment  of  rich  territories. 

Moreover,  the  stubbornness  of  the  popular  mind  and 
faith  had  then  already  been  broken  down  by  contact  with 
the  Hellenic  philosophy.  Originally,  within  the  limits 
of  the  Roman  city,  as  later  within  those  of  the  Empire, 
no  strange  faith  was  suffered ;  afterward  the  Jews,  who 
worshiped  without  image  or  temple,  and  whose  useful 
industry  had  spread  itself  through  the  Empire,  obtained 

8 


170  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES, 

legal  toleration,  and  the  same  boon  was  finally  extended 
to  the  Egyptian  festivals.  But  intolerance  was,  and 
continued  to  be,  the  law  again&t  all  principles  that  were 
fundamentally  at  variance  with  the  national  religion. 
Centuries  after  that  religion  had  died  out  in  unbelief,  or 
had  been  supplanted  by  Christianity,  under  the  most 
Christian  Emperor  Theodosius,  Rome's  proud  Senate 
required  that  Christian  Senators  should  take  a  few  graina 
of  incense,  on  their  entrance  into  the  hall,  and  strew 
them  on  the  altar  of  Vesta;  for  was  not  Vesta  the 
symbol  of  our  universal  empire  i 

The  ancient  Teutonic  races  possessed  a  consciousness 
of  God  no  less  grand  and  intelligent  than  that  of  the 
Hellenes ;  their  deities  were  human  gods- — ^they  were 
noble,  high-minded,  self-sacrificing,  and  kindly  heroes, 
less  bloody  than  that  of  the  Kelts,  or  even  of  the  Italians. 
The  distinction  of  race  with  them,  as  with  the  Hellenes, 
broke  down  the  narrow  limitations  of  local  superstitious 
rites  and  customs.  Yet  they  kept  the  latter  strictly ; 
and  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  we  find  among  the 
Frisians  a  trait  of  the  same  sternness  and  barbarism  to 
which  Boniface  afterward  fell  a  victim.  Shortly  before 
the  time  of  Boniface,  the  slaying  of  an  animal  for  food 
on  the  sacred  island  of  Heligoland,  where  all  living 
things  had  a  safe  asylum,  had  almost  cost  a  Christian 
missionary  his  life,  though  the  deed  seems  to  have  been 
committed  from  ignorance,  not  in  defiance.  But  we  no- 
where meet  with  a  prohibition  of  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel,  if  unaccompanied  by  any  contempt  of  national 
customs. 

The  Teutonic  races  became  Christians,  and  persecuted 
more  bitterly  than  their  heathen  forefathers.  Whence 
came  this  spirit  of  persecution,  in  spite  of  an  advancing 
civilization  ? 


TEUTONIC  INTOLERANCE.  171 

We  must  consider  this  remarkable  phenomenon  more 
closely.  The  Christianity  of  the  Gospel  and  of  the  apos- 
tles could  neither  have  awakened  nor  fostered  this  spirit, 
for  it  knew  not  as  yet  the  doctrine,  that  persecution  is 
the  pledge  of  faith  most  pleasing  to  God.  It  was  as 
little  possible  in  the  days  of  Boniface,  as  four  centuries 
earlier,  in  those  of  Ulphilas,  that  the  Gospel  could  trans- 
form into  a  nation  of  persecutors,  a  people  who  were 
innately  of  a  mild  and  kindly  disposition — a  people,  as 
Tacitus  says,  distinguished  by  this  very  kindliness  of 
heart  from  all  others,  and  like  only  itself  And  the 
profound  affection  with  which  the  Saxon  races  in  partic- 
ular received  the  Gospel  into  their  loyal  hearts  as  a 
strong  personal  faith  in  the  Saviour,  is  proved  by 
nothing  more  touchingly  than  by  the  Saxon  ''Gospel 
history  of  the  Lord."  This  work  dates  from  the 
period  immediately  following  the  sanguinary  proselyt- 
ism  of  the  Frankish  Charlemagne :  it  must  have  had 
its  origin  in  this  race,  and  certainly  struck  deep  root 
there.* 

Thus  at  that  early  date  the  German  people  read  the 
Bible,  or  at  least  the  Gospel  history.  It  was  not  those 
narratives  which  could  have  imbued  such  a  people  with 
the  notion,  that  the  words  of  the  Redeemer — ''  By  this 
shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have 
love  one  to  another"  (John  xiii.  35) — applied  only  to 
those  holding  the  same  theological  creed,  whether  Arians 
or  Catholics,  Roman  or  British  proselyters  and  neo- 
phytes. It  was  not  faith  in  the  Gospel  which  could  give 
rise  to  the  belief,  that  the  employment  of  fire  and  sword 
against  men  of  different  views  was  enjoined  by  Him  who 

*  This  has  been  already  remarked  by  Rettberg,  i.  247-252.  Is 
there  no  one  willing  to  make  ScheneUer's  work  accessible  to  the 
reading  pubUc  ? 


172  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

rebuked  the  sons  of  Zebedee  when  they  wished  to  call 
down  fire  from  heaven  on  the  unfriendly  Samaritans, 
and  warned  them  and  said  "Ye  know  not  what  manner 
of  spirit  ye  are  of"  (Luke  ix.  55) — namely,  of  the 
devil,  the  power  of  the  evil  spirit  of  darkness  which 
turneth  away  from  the  light  of  God — which  spirit  is 
selfishness.  The  Bible  did  not  teach  them  that  secular 
power  and  means  of  coercion  by  the  help  of  the  law, 
which  beareth  the  sword  for  a  terror  to  evil-doers,  had 
been  granted,  with  the  right  of  authority  over  the  con- 
sciences of  the  congregation,  to  the  preachers  and 
stewards  of  the  glad  tidings  by  Him  who  said  to  His 
disciples,  ''Ye  know  that  the  princes  of  the  Gentiles 
exercise  dominion  over  them,  and  they  that  are  great 
exercise  authority  upon  them.  But  it  shall  not  be  so 
among  you :  but  whosoever  will  be  great  among  you,  let 
him  be  your  minister ;  and  whosoever  will  be  chief 
among  you,  let  him  be  your  servant."  (Matt.  xx.  25, 
27.)  Nor  does  the  Gospel  history  teach  that  piety  and 
saving  faith  lie  in  outward  things  ;  and  that  Christ  was 
commanding  them  to  exclude  and  persecute  as  enemies 
those  Christians  whose  customs  might  differ  from  their 
own,  when  He  answered  the  question  of  the  Pharisees, 
when  the  kingdom  of  God  should  come  :  "The  kingdom 
of  God  Cometh  not  with  observation  ;  neither  shall  they 
say,  Lo  here  !  or,  lo  there  !  for,  behold,  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  within  you."  (Luke  xvii.  20,  21.)  He  who, 
while  gazing  on  Gerizim,  and  beholding  with  His  mind'^ 
eye  the  temple  of  Jerusalem  tottering  to  its  fall,  could 
proclaun  the  worship  of  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  as 
that  which  must  remain  forever  (John  iv.  21,  24),  could 
not  have  taught  them  to  place  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
in  one  consecrated  spot,  for  which  they  should  wage 
through  centuries  a  bloody  war  with  its  possessors. 


TEUTONIC  INTOLERANCE.  I73 

The  Pauline  Epistles  were  early  known  to  the  con- 
verted Germans.  With  their  hereditary  faculty  for  the 
reception  of  spiritual  things,  they  could  scarcely  have 
found  a  sanction  for  theological  condemnation  in  that 
great  apostle  of  the  heathen,  who  says  of  himself  and 
of  others,  "  Why  is  my  liberty  judged  of  another  man's 
conscience?"  and  who  submitted  himself  to  the  judg- 
ment of  this  same  Corinthian  congregation,  when  he 
says,  appealing  to  the  word  and  commandment  of  Christ, 
''  Judge  ye  what  I  say."  (1  Cor.  x.  29,  15.)  Since, 
then,  these  facts  of  persecution  occur  among  them  as 
among  all  Romanic  nations,  no  explanation  is  left  us 
but  to  suppose  that  it  has  been  the  intolerance  of  the- 
ologians which  has  made  Christianity  exclusive,  and  the 
German  people  persecutors.  In  the  Gospel,  nothing 
could  be  found  to  produce  this  result,  but  much  to  pre- 
vent it. 

Under  Boniface,  the  Germans  received  from  the 
priesthood,  who  ruled  and  instructed  them,  a  ready- 
made  system  of  theology,  which  had  been  put  together 
in  the  course  of  the  last  four  centuries  by  the  schoolmen 
and  bishops  of  Byzantium  and  Rome.  But  the  great 
apostle  of  the  heathen,  whose  memory  we  celebrate  to- 
day, had  left  them  a  warning  against  all  teachers  who 
do  not  abide  by  the  wholesome  words  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  speaking  of  the  "perverse  disputings  of  men  of 
corrupt  minds,  and  destitute  of  the  truth,  supposing  that 
gain  is  godliness."  (1  Tim.  vi.  3,  5.)  Yet,  as  we  have 
said,  we  find  persecution  early  practiced  by  all  the  Ger- 
man tribes,  and  that  in  the  name  of  the  Saviour,  and 
for  the  glory  of  God. 

It  would  be  wholly  unjust  to  ascribe  this  corruption 
to  the  peculiar  organization  of  the  Roman  Church  ;  it 
is  the  necessary  consequence  of  the  system  of  every 


174  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Church  claiming  unconditional  rights.  Did  the  rigid 
partisans  of  their  Church  among  the  Lutherans  act 
otherwise  ?  Hardly  were  Luther  and  Melancthon  dead, 
when  the  son-in-law  of  the  latter,  a  pious  and  peace- 
loving  minister,  who  preached  peace  with  Calvinists  as 
brethren,  was  cast  into  prison ;  and  not  long  afterward 
another  was  executed  as  a  malefactor,  with  a  sword  in- 
scribed for  the  purpose  with  the  words,  "Beware,  Cal- 
vinist !"  And  this  took  place  in  the  very  cradle  of  that 
Reformation  which  had  preached  the  freedom  of  the 
Gospel,  and  sealed  its  testimony  before  God  and  man 
with  the  precious  blood  of  martyrs. 

0  !  that  the  successors  of  those  old  Lutheran  zealots, 
who  are  now  again  springing  up  in  Mecklenburg  and 
Prussia,  would  make  a  pilgrimage  to  Dresden,  and  there 
gaze  on  the  bloody  sword  with  which  Crell  was  executed, 
and  consider  aright  its  bloodthirsty  inscription  !  0  ! 
that  they  would  then  look  within  and  blush  for  them- 
selves, when  they  demand  the  power  of  the  keys  to  en- 
able them  to  re-awaken  the  faith  which  has  died  out 
under  their  hands,  and  to  unite  the  scattered  congrega- 
tions under  a  new  jurisdiction !  0  !  that  they  could 
see  how  their  fanaticism  betrays  their  secret  want  of 
faith  in  the  sight  of  all,  when  they  invoke  the  power  of 
the  police  against  a  few  poor  Baptist  preachers  ! 

With  Boniface,  in  particular,  however,  two  great 
powers  begin  to  play  their  parts  in  the  world's  history : 
an  exclusive  hierarchy,  which  absorbs  the  hereditary 
rights  of  the  congregation,  and  overshadows  the  congre- 
gation itself;  and  a  stern  intolerance  of  all  theological 
differences. 

By  intolerance  (let  me  repeat  it  once  more)  we  do  not 
mean  insisting  on  their  own  doctrine  as  the  only  true 
one,  for  we  leave  this  open  to  all  theologians  who  desire 


ECCLESIASTICAL  PERSECUTION.  175 

it;  but  the  enforcement  of  their  doctrine  within  the 
domain  of  law,  by  coercion,  persecution,  penalties,  and 
death. 

Every  absolute  Church  necessarily  brings  with  it  per- 
secution. It  denies  the  right  demanded  by  the  con- 
sciences of  the  individual  and  the  congregation,  namely, 
freedom  of  thought,  and,  what  is  the  same  thing,  freedom 
of  speech  and  of  teaching,  on  the  highest  subjects  of  hu- 
man research  and  contemplation.  This  priestly  and 
Church  system  equally  denies  the  State,  for  it  would 
make  it  merely  the  instrument  of  defending  or  avenging 
the  prescriptions  of  the  Church :  that  is,  devolve  on  the 
State  the  right  of  punishment.  And  it  demands  this 
servitude  on  the  part  of  the  latter  as  a  Divine  right 
which  it  were  godless  to  withstand.  Lastly,  it  denies 
the  most  Divine  thing  on  earth — the  conscience  of  the 
individual  and  of  humanity ;  it  stigmatizes  as  profane 
the  utterance  of  the  conscience  of  society,  that  is,  public 
opinion,  and  seeks  to  set  aside,  by  prohibition  or  repeal, 
the  judgments  which  the  Spirit  has  given  through  his- 
tory— nay,  the  Bible  itself. 

The  same  priesthood  points  to  the  persecution  of 
Eoniface  by  a  heathen  horde,  as  a  type  of  the  persecu- 
tions now  suffered  by  his  followers,  when  the  State  re- 
fuses to  recognize  their  unbounded  pretension  to  a  right 
of  absolute  sovereignty  and  stewardship.  As  though 
there  were  no  other  persecutions  than  thoie  of  which 
bishops  have  to  complain,  when  they  are  called  upon  to 
respect  those  laws  under  which  their  predecessors  lived 
in  peace !  As  though  there  had  ever  been  so  bloody  a 
persecution  as  that  practiced  by  bishops  and  theologians, 
in  virtue  of  their  so-called  Divine  right !  Alas !  and 
they  have  practiced  it,  not  only  with  prison  and  scaffold, 
on  solitary  thinkers  and  pious  men,  but  with  that  silent 


176  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

killing  out  of  the  Spirit,  which,  in  the  course  of  a  few 
centuries,  has  brought  the  noblest  nations  into  a  state 
of  spiritual  stupor  or  wild  despair. 

After  many  sanguinary  struggles,  the  power  of  cir- 
cumstances, working  partly  through  treaties  of  peace, 
partly  by  absolute  princely  power,  partly  in  the  laws,  of 
free  States,  had  consecrated  the  work  of  civilization, 
namely,  religious  toleration.  This  child  of  persecuted 
faith,  and  of  an  unspoken,  yet  widely-recognized  bond 
of  mutual  toleration,  which  the  spirit  of  charity  to  all 
men  was  silently  bringing  to  pass  in  different  Christian 
confessions,  produced  a  ready  co-operation  and  commun- 
ity of  life  between  them,  along  with  other  noble  fruits 
of  civilization.  A  great  Catholic  nation  proclaimed  per- 
fect liberty  of  conscience,  in  the  very  words  of  the  men 
of  freedom  beyond  the  ocean.  Two  great  Catholic  sov- 
ereigns, Napoleon  and  Joseph  II.,  proclaimed  and  car- 
ried into  effect  the  principle  that  religion  may  and  shall 
be  honored  and  efficacious  without  persecution. 

And  lo !  in  our  own  days  the  demon  of  persecution 
suddenly  rises  from  the  abyss,  and  shows  himself,  not 
in  one  church,  but  in  almost  all — ^most  especially,  how- 
ever, in  that  of  Boniface — ^and  proclaims  that  oppression 
of  conscience  is  a  proof  of  faith,  and  that  tolerance  is 
the  offspring  of  perdition,  and  is  preadied  to  the  people 
by  infidelity. 

I  wish  not  to  open  old  wounds ;  but  I  must  raise  my 
voice,  that  thase  yet  bleeding  may  be  healed,  and  not 
new  and  more  deadly  ones  inflicted.  I  must  speak  of 
facts  which  seem  to  justify  the  fears  of  millions,  and  to 
open  an  immediate  prospect  of  religious  wars  and  uni- 
versal ruin.  It  is  now  the  atmosphere  if  not  the  era 
of  1617. 

Yes,  the  system  which  deluded  and  ignorant  priests 


RUSSIAN  INTOLERANCE.  177 

—unable  to  read  the  signs  of  the  times,  careless  of  peo- 
ple or  State — are  now,  consciously  or  unconsciously, 
preaching  and  practicing,  must  lead  to  religious  wars, 
which  will  overthrow  or  shake  to  their  foundations, 
many  thrones  that  are  lending  themselves  to  this  party, 
unless  its  progress  can  be  checked  now,  even  at  the  last 
moment. 

Not  that  the  spirit  of  the  peoples  is  intolerant  or  per- 
secuting. There  is  no  nation  in  Europe  to  whose  spirit 
and  leading  energies  this  reproach  could  be  affixed.  The 
Spanish  people  has  no  desire  for  the  Inquisition  and 
auto-da-fes ;  and  the  fanaticism  of  the  old  Russian  party 
is  directed,  in  its  natural  growth,  not  against  the  Church 
of  the  West,  but  against  the  State  Church  of  Peter  the 
Great,  and  the  military  synod  which  has  supplanted  the 
Patriarch. 

Nor  are  the  absolute  sovereigns  of  Europe  and  their 
princely  houses  distinguished  by  cruelty  and  love  of 
persecution.  In  his  private  character,  this  could  not  be 
said  even  of  that  Sovereign  who  has  recently  been  so 
suddenly  summoned  before  his  Judge ;  and  who,  while 
his  mental  vision  was  most  bounded,  ruled  with  a  might 
and  sternness  almost  transcending  human  limits.  Doubt- 
less, among  the  sixty  thousand  Protestants  and  the  two 
million  of  members  of  the  United  Eastern  Churches, 
who,  in  the  course  of  the  last  ten  years  have  been 
brought  over  to  the  Russian  Church  by  delusive  repre- 
sentations, by  deeds  of  violence,  by  the  unworthy  seduc- 
tions of  his  priests,  and  officials,  and  policemen,  there 
are  myriads  and  myriads  who  accuse  him  before  their 
own  consciences  and  the  throne  of  God  of  unheard-of 
wrong.  The  sufferings  and  sighs  of  the  Abbess  of 
Minsk  have  echoed  through  the  whole  world,  and 
scarcely  can  all  the  dungeons,  and  pains,  and  tortures 
8* 


178  SIG-NS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

of  Russia,  have  wholly  stifled  their  sound  within  the 
country  itself.  And  yet  all  who  knew  the  Emperor 
Nicholas  personally,  agree  in  saying  that  he  himself 
did  not  issue  those  cruel  decrees,  and  was  to  a  great  ex- 
tent unconscious  of  the  sanguinary  mode  in  which  they 
were  executed  by  his  superior  spiritual  and  secular 
oflicers.  And  surely  his  mild  and  gentle  successor,  the 
pupil  of  the  high-minded  and  noble  General  von  Mor- 
der,  and  the  truly  liberal,  pious,  and  cultivated  poet, 
Jukowski,  is  the  last  man  of  whom  we  need  to  fear  that 
he  would  tread  in  the  blood-stained  footsteps  of  the  late 
Government. 

And  yet  the  cruel  proceedings  against  the  Madiai 
show  us  whither  the  princes  are  led  by  the  principle  of 
obtaining,  at  any  price,  the  friendship  and  support  of 
Rome  and  the  Ultramontane  party,  and  of  purchasing 
the  so-called  "  peace  of  God"  (that  is,  peace  with  the 
clergy)  at  the  cost,  if  not  of  our  own  sense  of  right,  of 
the  law  of  the  land  and  freedom  of  conscience.  Who 
would  not  do  all  justice  to  the  personal  character  of  the 
descendant  of  the  humane  and  enlightened  Grand  Duke 
of  Tuscany?  Who  does  not  know  the  mildness  and 
humanity  which  render  a  residence  in  that  ever-memo- 
rable and  highly  civilized  country,  so  pleasant  and  de- 
lightful to  both  Italians  and  foreigners?  And  yet, 
what  heart  does  not  revolt  at  the  naked,  unconcealed, 
undeniable  fact,  of  cruel  personal  persecution  of  a 
wholly  inoffensive  couple,  who  were  distinguished  in 
their  lowly  calling  by  the  purest  life  and  strict  obedience 
to  the  laws,  who  held  aloof  from  all  political  intrigues, 
and  who  have  witnessed  the  purity  of  their  faith  by  the 
martyr's  spirit  of  patience  in  which  they  have  endured 
their  sufferings  ?  The  Madiai  were  not  the  first  nor  the 
last  victims  of  Ultramontane  cruelty.    But  the  proceed- 


DOMENICO  CECOHETTI.  179' 

ings  against  them  were  the  first-fruits  that  had  met  the 
public  eye  of  the  new  contracts  with  Rome,  and  of 
the  concessions  extorted  by  the  latter  as  an  atonement 
for  the  spirit  of  free  thought  inherited  from  Joseph 
II.,  and  as  a  token  of  gratitude  to  the  Pope  for  deliver- 
ance from  the  storms  of  1848,  by  means  of  Austrian 
bayonets  ! 

Hardly  has  the  indignant  outcry  of  Europe  at  these 
cruelties  died  into  silence,  ere  new  tidings  reach  us, 
from  the  same  country  and  the  same  city,  of  an  act  of 
yet  greater  harshness. 

The  documents  connected  with  the  proceeding  will  be 
found  collected  at  the  end  of  this  book.*  The  facts 
there  given  are  authenticated  partly  by  official  and  docu- 
mentary papers,  partly  by  internal  evidence,  and  the 
absence  of  any  contradiction.  They  need  no  explana- 
tion. No  legal  form  of  justice  is  observed — no  defense 
admitted — no  witnesses  are  brought  forward.  This  is 
no  legal  process  such  as  that  to  which  we  owe,  in  the 
case  of  the  Madiai,  a  defense  that  does  honor  to  Italy. 
It  is  an  inquisition,  only  conducted  by  secular  agents — 
not  by  judges  proceeding  according  to  forms,  but  by 
underlings  of  the  Executive  Government.  The  police 
needs  no  rack,  as  it  has  no  forms  to  observe.  The  issue 
is  a  harsh  decision,  summarily  given  by  the  Executive. 
On  a  Sunday  morning,  the  25th  of  March,  apparently 
in  honor  of  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation  of  Heaven's 
grace  to  earth,  a  highly  respected  man,  the  father  of  a 
fe,mily,  who  has  been  but  just  arrested,  is  led  away  in 
chains  to  spend  a  year  in  the  House  of  Correction. 
And  why  ?  Because  he  had  read  the  Bible  with  his 
children  quietly  in  his  own  room — nay,  had  prayed 
there  with  them,  and  possibly  may  have  confidentially 
*  See  Appendix  A  to  Letter  vii. 


180  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

spoken  of  this  culpable  practice  to  an  inmate  of  the 
same  house  !  We  grieve  that  the  trial  of  Gulileo  has 
lately  found  a  German  apologist,  who  could  reiterate  all 
the  old  shallow  gossip  about  the  passionate  obstinacy  of 
that  great  man ;  but  what  is  the  trial  of  Galileo  to  this 
recent  proceeding  ?  Martial  law  administered  by  the 
police  in  educated  and  peaceful  Florence  ! 

Would  to  God  that  this  were  a  solitary  case,  or  at 
least  that  we  had  no  instance  of  intolerance  and  relig- 
ious persecution  to  lament  within  our  own  country  while 
celebrating  the  present  festival !  But  the  urgency  of 
the  times,  and  the  love  of  truth,  and  my  confidence  in 
the  independence  and  justice  of  a  great  German  prince, 
constrain  me  to  speak  of  another  instance  of  the  same 
spirit,  equally  recent,  and  still  more  revolting,  and  to 
draw  attention  to  the  consequences  of  the  unhappy  con- 
cessions of  our  Governments  to  the  boundless  preten- 
sions of  the  Romish  clergy — concessions  inconsistent 
both  with  mental  liberty  and  the  dignity  of  the  Govern- 
ments. 

The  cruel  treatment  of  a  Catholic  of  Bohemia,  who 
has  gone  over  to  the  Protestant  Church,  has  been  already 
brought  before  the  public  by  both  native  and  foreign 
journals. 

One  Johannes  Evangelista  Borczynski,  formerly  a 
lay-brother  of  the  Order  of  the  Brethren  of  Mercy  in 
Prague,  and  for  twenty  years  physician  to  the  institu- 
tion, had  notified,  according  to  law,  before  the  Catholic 
Ecclesiastical  Board,  and  in  the  presence  of  two  wit- 
nesses, his  conversion  to  Protestantism.  As  it  was  not 
concealed  from  him  that  such  a  step  would  never  be 
permitted  in  Austria,  notwithstanding  the  existing  law 
of  the  land,  but  that  he  would  probably  be  thrown  into 
prison,  he  then  crossed  the  frontier  in  all  haste  into 


JOHANNES  EVANGELISTA  BORCZYNSKI.         181 

Prussia.  He  came  back  provided  with  all  the  prescribed 
certificates  and  documents  connected  with  his  legal  re- 
ception into  the  Protestant  Church.*  Trusting  in  the 
laws  of  the  Empire,  he  returned,  on  the  29th  of  March, 
in  all  privacy  to  his  native  place — Prossnitz,  in  Mo- 
ravia, where  he  lived  quietly  in  his  father's  family. 
And  now  turn  to  the  official  records,  and  read  the 
story  of  the  cruel  treatment  of  this  man,  who,  how- 
ever, had  not  ceased  to  possess  the  rights  of  a  subject, 
since  it  was  as  a  subject  that  he  was  arrested  by  the 
State.f 

The  proceedings  of  his  late  ecclesiastical  superiors 
remind  us  of  those  well-authenticated  narratives  of  the 
escaped  nuns  from  Lithuania  which  filled  Europe  with 
horror  ten  years  ago.  The  details  are  too  revolting  to 
be  repeated  here.  I  can  vouch  that  the  facts  here  given 
possess  the  greatest  authority ;  they  are  in  part  official. 
I  will  only  remark  that  I  must  reserve  the  right  of 
adding  further  particulars  in  case  I  should  have  occasion 
to  announce  Borczynski's  death  in  the  course  of  my  sub- 
sequent letters.  The  world  would  have  her  own  opinion 
of  the  affiiir,  and  the  suspicion  that  the  superiors  of  the 
Order  had  been  alarmed  at  the  possible  disclosures  of 
this  man  respecting  themselves  or  their  Order,  would 
remain  indelibly  fixed  on  them  by  history. 

In  Passion  Week,  that  period  sacred  to  all  Chris- 
tians, he  entreats  permission,  if  not  to  celebrate  the 
Lord's  Supper  with  his  fellow-believers,  at  least  to 
receive  a  pastoral  visit.  The  answer  is  mocking  and 
cruel ;  he  wishes  to  do  penance,  then — he  shall  have 
the  opportunity  granted  him  of  fasting  for  three  days  on 
bread  and  water.  Soon  after,  he  is  cast  into  a  dark 
cell,  and  left  in  the  foul  air  of  a  dungeon.     Is  this  an 

*  See  Appendix  C,  ii.  2,  to  this  Letter.        f  See  Appendix  B 


182  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

example  of  Christian  love  or  ecclesiastical  humanity? 
Does  it  not  rather  look  like  priestly  revenge,  and  a  con- 
firmation of  the  Roman  proverb,  "A  priest  never  for- 
gives?" Many  weeks  and  months  have  passed  since 
then  ;  his  persecutors  have  condescended  to  insert  a  few 
words  in  defense  of  their  conduct  in  the  journals  devoted 
to  their  party,  but  not  a  word  of  changing  his  place  of 
confinement,  or  of  alleviating  the'  cruelties  inflicted  in 
that  week  of  divine  atonement,  which  must  inevitably 
end  in  his  death,  if  they  do  not  reduce  him  to  the  same 
state  as  his  brutalized  companions.  Is  there  not  among 
the  inmates  of  this  convent  the  monk  Zazule,  who  has 
been  confined  already  twenty-two  years,  and  is  treated 
as  a  lunatic,  because  he  has  betrayed  a  leaning  to  Pro- 
testantism ? 

-But  I  look  forward  with  you,  my  honored  friend,  to  a 
better  termination.  I  am  firmly  convinced  that  if  the 
powerful  sovereign  of  German  Austria,  the  youthful  and 
knightly  Emperor,  can  be  made  aware  of  these  proceed- 
ings ere  it  be  too  late,  he  will  not  approve  them,  but 
exert  his  authority  to  bring  them  to  a  close.  To  a 
Christian  and  German  heart,  the  sympathy  of  Christen- 
dom can  be  no  reason  for  withholding  compassion.  It  is 
not  thus  we  feel  and  think  on  this  side  the  Alps.  To  a 
German  heart,  the  respectful  expression  of  sympathy  and 
disapprobation  is  no  crime.  The  Emperor  will  show 
that  he  is  lord  in  his  own  land — that  he  is  Emperor, 
and  a  German  and  truly  Christian  lord.  Nor  will  he 
suffer  a  retrospective  force  to  be  given  within  his  states 
to  the  possible  provisions  of  any  Concordat — I  say  pos- 
sible, for  we  know  not  yet  what  the  Concordat  contains, 
still  less  do  we  know  with  what  reservation  it  may  be 
published. 

The  whole  world  knows  what  the  Pope  and  the  Bishops 


AUSTRIAN   INTOLERANCE.  Igg 

now  demandj  but  the  whole  German  nation  knows,  and 
all  true  statesmen  know,  that  Germany  never  will  be 
brought  to  allow  her  mind  and  conscience  to  be  silenced 
in  an  age  when  free  discussion  and  even  free  censure  is 
admitted  in  all  financial  operations.  Yes,  it  would  now 
be  impossible  to  bring  to  pass  what  was  still  possible 
under  Ferdinand  II.,  that  every  stirring  of  the  trampled 
national  conscience  should  be  answered  by  prisons  and 
torture,  as  it  has  been  in  Russia  since  1826 ;  or  that  the 
calm  discussion  of  public  questions,  which  concern  all 
consciences  and  the  very  sanctuary  of  religious  convic- 
tion, should  be  stopped  by  deeds  of  brute  violence.  Not 
Germany  alone — ^the  whole  civilized  Christian  world  is 
joined  in  a  holy  league  against  a  return  to  such  a  course 
of  action.  If  the  public  opinion  of  the  world,  which 
demands  freedom  of  conscience  and  toleration  by  the 
law,  had  no  other  force  on  its  side  than  the  eternal  truth 
of  man's  deepest  feelings  which  underlies  it,  yet  it  could 
not  long  be  set  at  naught  by  any  save  misanthropic 
sophists  or  reckless  desperadoes.  Nay,  it  does  not  be- 
come truly  omnipotent  over  those  who  really  or  seemingly 
despise  it,  until  it  addresses  itself  to  the  sense  of  justice 
and  personal  honor  in  the  sovereign  himself  The  prom- 
ises made  by  the  reigning  Emperor  of  Austria  when 
he  repealed  the  constitution  live  in  his  breast,  in  the 
sanctuary  of  his  conscience  ;  and  they  shut  out  all  pos- 
sibility of  the  recurrence  of  such  cruelties,  whatever  may 
come  from  beyond  the  Alps.  Borczynski  will  certainly 
find  succor  when  the  Emperor  hears  of  his  case,  although 
he  was  a  lay-brother. 

I  hold  the  same  conviction  with  regard  to  other  in- 
stances of  the  same  kind,  of  which  we  have  heard  during 
the  last  few  years  from  dijQferent  parts  of  the  Austrian 
Empire,  some  of  which  have  been  discussed  in  the  public 


184  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

prints,  and,  as  far  as  I  know,  have  never  been  denied. 
The  fate  of  Borczynski  is  no  isolated  example  of  priestly 
persecution  in  Austria.  Without  adducing  particular 
cases,  which  might  be  dangerous  to  those  concerned  in 
them,  I  will  merely  give  the  following  fact  from  Hun- 
gary in  the  words  (which  have  never  been  contradicted) 
of  a  public  paper,  edited  by  men  of  high  standing,  whoss 
names  are  well  known  and  imiversally  esteemed.  The 
Protestantische  Kirchenzeitiing  of  Berlin  tells  us, 
early  in  the  present  year,  that  the  pious  and  gentle 
Archduchess  Palatine  (since  dead)  had  presented  some 
Bibles  to  her  Protestant  brethren  in  Pesth ;  and  a  Bible 
society  had  added  to  her  gift  a  few  more  copies,  to  be 
bestowed  on  poor  youths  and  maidens  on  their  marriage 
and  admission  into  the  congregation.  Thereupon  the 
police  steps  in,  requires  the  pastor  to  give  up  the  Bibles, 
and  presents  him,  a  few  days  later,  with  a  receipt  for 
fifty-four  kreutzers,  as  the  price  of  the  paper-maker's 
pulp  into  wliich  those  Bibles  had  been  pounded.  The 
Word  of  God,  acknowledged  'even  by  the  Catholic  doc- 
trine to  be  the  sole  rule  of  faith  to  Protestants,  the  pious 
gift  of  a  princess  of  the  Imperial  House  to  the  poor 
members  of  a  Christian  congregation,  is  hunted  out  and 
destroyed  as  if  it  were  a  book  of  blasphemy  I  No  doubt 
there  was  some  police  regulation  which  made  this  pos- 
sible :  so  much  the  worse.  The  writer  of  the  account 
from  Hungary  says,  "This  receipt  says  much."  It 
does  indeed  say  much.  If  all  this  happens  before  the 
Concordat — before  the  laws  of  Joseph,  which  have  been 
blessed  by  millions  for  the  last  three  generations,  have 
been  supplanted  by  a  new  order  of  things  devised  to 
please  Rome,  what  may  not — what  must  not — happen 
hereafter  ? 

And  if  any  thing  could  arouse  more  indignation  than 


PERSECUTION  DEPENDED.  185 

what  has  been  done,  it  would  be  what  has  been  said  in 
its  explanation  and  defense,  since  the  press,  including 
that  of  France,  has,  with  a  generous  freedom  of  thought 
which  merits  acknowledgment,  drawn  attention  to  these 
cases.  (The  Augsburg  Allgemeine  Zeitung  mentions 
at  least  the  first.) 

Barati,  the  pastor  of  the  parish  in  Florence  to  which 
Cecchetti  belonged,  had  been  charged  with  denouncing 
him  to  the  Government,  and  of  having  done  so  even, 
perhaps,  at  the  cost  of  violating  the  secresy  of  the  con- 
fessional.    He  defends  himself  thus : 

"  In  order  to  justify  my  own  share  in  the  misfortune  which 
has  occurred  to  Cecchetti,  it  is  necessary  that  the  world  should 
be  made  aware,  that  the  priest  is  bound  hy  the  government  to 
send  in  yearly  a  report  of  the  condition  of  the  souls  under  his  cure. 
Now,  as  this  Cecchetti  had  hved  four  years  in  my  parish  without 
ever  coming  to  confession,  I  was  obliged  to  inform  the  police  of 
the  circumstance.  If  the  gensdarmes  afterward  visited  the 
family,  and  found  Diodati's  Bible  in  his  possession,  it  is  not  my 
fault." 

So  the  police  chooses  to  be  informed  annually  of  the 
condition  of  souls,  whether  a  citizen  goes  to  mass  and  re- 
ceives the  communion !  What  need  of  an  Inquisition 
when  we  have  a  police !  But  the  priest  deserves  re- 
spect ;  he  merits  grateful  thanks  for  having  justified 
himself  in  his  priestly  character. 

Hitherto  the  case  stands  otherwise  with  the  defenders 
of  the  proceedings  against  Borczynski.  The  Deutsche 
Volkshalle  puts  forth  the  following  view  of  the  subject 
in  its  number  of  the  day  before  yesterday  (June  19th, 
1855,  No.  137).  The  crime  of  the  lay-brother  Borc- 
zynski against  his  Order,  it  says,  is  to  be  placed  on  a 
level  with  the  breach  of  the  marriage  vow,  or  the  oath 
of  allegiance  by  a  soldier.  It  then  enters  into  a  long 
exposition,  to  show  how  much  worse  is  the  crime  against 


186  SIGNS   OP  THE  TIMES. 

the  Order  than  the  crime  of  the  perjured  deserter  or 
traitor  within  the  army ;  for  which  vow,  it  asks,  is  the 
most  sacred — this  or  that  ? 

Therefore  a  blameless  man,  esteemed  by  his  very  per- 
secutors, who  has  availed  himself  of  the  permission  of 
embracing  the  Protestant  Church  which  the  law  grants 
to  every  one  who  is  not  under  sentence  of  civil  death, 
and  therefore  to  the  lay-brother  among  the  rest — who 
avails  himself  of  this  legal  privilege  with  all  possible  ob- 
servance of  the  forms  of  law,  and  without  exciting  noise 
or  remark — who  is  charged  simply  with  having  so  far 
confided  in  the  Emperor's  word  and  his  own  good  con- 
science, as  to  return  privately  to  his  native  place — this 
man  has  rightfully  fallen  under  the  penalties  of  the 
criminal  law,  as  much  as  a  convicted  adulteress  :  nay, 
ought  to  be  yet  more  severely  punished  than  the  traitor 
to  his  country  who  deserts  his  colors.  He,  a  medical 
lay-brother,  has  broken  his  allegiance  to  his  Order,  and 
merely  for  the  sake  of  his  private  conscience ;  and  no 
rights  as  a  citizen  or  a  man,  no  protection  of  the  State 
shall  avail  him  against  the  regulations  of  that  Order 
(which  has  nevertheless  made  use  of  the  police  to  re- 
cover their  captive),  against  the  commands  of  his  late 
superiors,  to  whom  he  is  a  serf  for  life.  Ecclesiastical 
law  is  higher  than  the  State — it  is  absolute  ! 

The  dignity  of  the  State,  the  honor  of  the  Sovereign, 
nay,  the  salvation  of  his  soul,  demand  that  he  should 
"protect  the  Church"  in  these  pretensions;  and  ere 
long  he  will  solemnly  have  vowed  to  the  Pope  thus  to 
protect  her.  The  very  shadow  that  the  coming  Con- 
cordat casts  before  it,  brings  down  a  punishment  on  the 
despisers  of  God;  but  the  punishment  of  treason  is 
death ! 

The  editors  of  this  paper  believe,  no  doubt,  that  they 


PERSECUTION  IN  TUSCANY  AND  AUSTRIA.     187 

are  rendering  a  service  to  the  Emperor  of  Austria  in 
putting  forward  a  defense  like  this,  which  would  better 
suit  the  men  of  the  Univers.  Similar  friends  of  the 
Emperor  are  wandering  through  the  Rhenish  provinces, 
and  are  impudent  enough  to  assume  the  airs  of  agents 
of  Austria,  sent  forth  to  stir  up  the  land  for  a  great  and 
sacred  object  at  a  critical  moment.  What  a  disgrace  to 
the  Imperial  name  !  And  what  honorable  confidence  in 
the  sound  judgment  and  the  noble  instinct  of  right  in 
her  Rhenish  subjects  does  it  not  show,  that  Prussia  suf- 
fers these  birds  of  night  to  fl  j  abroad  unmolested  ! 

Let  this,  my  respected  friend,  be  our  first  sermon  on 
toleration,  on  occasion  of  the  eleventh  centenary  festival 
of  St.  Boniface,  in  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury.    Seek  to  profit  by  it  as  you  can,  and  farewell. 

P.  S.— 6th  August,  1855. 
THE    LAST    NEWS    OF    THE    PERSECUTION    IN    TUSCANY 
AND   AUSTRIA. 

We  have  just  learned,  through  the  public  papers, 
that  the  representations  of  the  English  and  French  Em- 
bassadors in  Florence  have  been  successful  in  obtaining 
the  commutation  of  the  remaining  eight  months'  im- 
prisonment of  Cecchetti  into  exile.  Every  Christian 
and  true  friend  of  his  race  must  feel  grateful  to  those 
Governments  and  their  representatives,  and  acknowledge 
the  mercy  of  the  sovereign's  decision.  You  and  I  cer- 
tainly share  this  feeling  to  its  full  extent.  But  it  can 
not  make  us  forget  two  decisive  facts.  First,  that  the 
mercy  of  the  sovereign  only  amounts  to  the  "sorrowful 
privilege  of  banishment;"  secondly,  that  the  Imo  re- 
mains unchanged  for  him,  and,  perhaps,  a  hundred 
other  pious  readers  of  the  Bible.  If  on  his  return, 
after  a  day  of  honest  labor,  Cecchetti  wishes  to  read  the 


188  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Bible  with  his  children,  and  does  not  deny  his  crime 
when  he  is  questioned,  he  may  be  once  more  put  in  irons, 
and  thrown  into  prison  in  a  felon's  dress.  Meanwhile, 
the  prisons  may  be  filled  with  martyrs  in  the  same  faith, 
of  whom  no  one  hears  a  word.  All  freedom  of  the  press 
was  long  since  at  an  end  in  the  country  :  who  will  stand 
up  in  behalf  of  the  obscure  victims  of  persecution  in 
country  towns  and  remote  districts?  Thus,  on  the 
24th  October,  1854,  Eusebio  Massei,  an  honest  baker 
of  Pontedera,  near  Pisa,  was  summarily  arrested  by  the 
police,  like  Cecchetti,  and  condemned  to  a  year's  im- 
prisonment in  the  House  of  Correction.  This  instance 
was  stated  in  the  Allgemeine  Kirchenzeitwig  of  the 
13th  February,  1855,  in  a  letter  from  Florence,  dated 
20th  of  December,  1854.  The  man's  crime  consisted 
in  searching  whether  Diodati's  translation  of  the  New 
Testament  was  rieally,  as  the  priests  said,  a  mutilated 
version.  For  this  object  he  compared  it  with  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Archbishop  of  Florence,  Martini,  and  found, 
of  course,  that  Diodati  had  given  a  full  and  complete 
translation.  It  must  be  observed  that  Martini's  Bible 
is  inaccessible  to  any  poor  man,  as  the  only  unpro- 
hibited edition  contains  the  Latin  text  and  notes,  and 
costs  nearly  seventy  francs.  Everything  is  done,  more- 
over, of  late,  to  prevent  the  laity  from  reading  even  this 
edition. 

No  other  charge  could  be  brought  against  Massei, 
except  that  when  the  cholera  was  raging  in  Pontedera, 
he  had  said  that  purification,  and  cleanliness  of  the 
streets  and  houses,  might  be  more  efficacious  than  the 
worship  of  the  Holy  Cross  of  Pontedera. 

On  these  charges  alone  Massei  was  brought  before  the 
police,  and  condemned  by  them,  according  to  the  san- 
guinary laws  of  25th  April,  1851,  and  the  14th  No- 


THE  SECOND  EDITION.  189 

vember,  1852,  for  "apostacy  in  matters  of  religion," 
^'-per  defezione  in  materia  religiosaP  Who  will  be- 
lieve that  this  instance  stands  alone  ? 

Thus^  notlmig  has  been  done  to  alter  the  position 
of  affairs.  The  persecution  of  Sweden  and  Meck- 
lenburg is  the  mercy  of  Tuscany — namely,  exile. 
Thus  does  Rome  revenge  herself  for  her  spiritual  im- 
potence against  the  Gospel  on  the  ground  of  freedom 
and  justice. 

With  regard  to  Borczynski  we  have  since  then  re- 
ceived no  intelligence  but  of  fresh  sorrows.  His  brother 
Ubaldus  has  been  removed  from  Prague  to  Gortz — that 
means  that  he  has  been  got  out  of  the  way.  We  shall 
hear  no  more  of  him. 

We  have  just  learned  that  the  same  man  last  year 
spent  seventeen  weeks  in  confinement,  because  he  com- 
municated his  experiences  in  the  Order  to  the  Pope,  and 
petitioned  to  be  released  from  his  vow.*  He  is  now 
suffering  for  his  sympathy  with  his  brother's  misfortunes. 
The  Appendix  gives  our  last  letter  from  imprisoned 
Evangelista,  dated  "the  25th  June,  in  the  prison  of  the 
Order  of  Mercy."  Our  hope  is  in  the  merciful  God  ; 
and,  next  to  Him,  in  the  justice  and  compassion  of  Borc- 
zynski's  Imperial  Sovereign. 

p.  S.  2. — THE   SECOND   EDITION. 

November  6th,  1855. 

Our  hope  is  fulfilled.  Thanks  be  to  God  and  to  the 
Emperor,  whose  Government  has  suffered  the  captive  to 
escape  from  the  prison  of  the  "  Order  of  Mercy." 
About  the  22d  of  last  month  Borczynski  reached  the 

*  Frankfurter  Journal,  Appendix  No.  2  to  No.  169,  17th  July 
1855.  For  an  account  of  the  brother  the  Frankfurter  Journal 
refers  to  the  "  Wahrer  Protestant"  vol  iv.,  p.  13. 


190  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

house  of  the  Pastor  Nowotny  in  Petershayn  (in  Prus- 
sian Lusatia),  "still  living,  though  almost  a  corpse," 
as  a  leter  says.  It  was  this  pastor  who,  seven  months 
before,  had  received  him  into  the  Protestant  Church, 
and  had  watched  his  departure  with  anxious  fears. 

P.S.— August  25th,  1855. 
THE  LATEST  PERSECUTIONS  IN  FRANCE. 

The  Journal  des  Dehats  brings  us  word  of  the  most 
recent  and  severe  persecutions ;  and  this  is  taking  place 
in  France  !  A  highly  respectable  man,  the  father  of  a 
family,  is  invited  to  show  cause  why  the  decision  of  a 
family  council  should  not  be  carried  into  effect,  which 
would  deprive  him  of  his  most  sacred  right,  that  of 
paternal  authority,  on  the  ground  of  his  Protestantism ; 
and  the  proceedings  are  said  to  be  founded  on  the  Code 
Napoleon^  the  first  principle  of  which  is,  that  the  law 
does  not  take  cognizance  of  the  religious  confession  of  a 
member  of  any  recognized  religious  body.  The  man's 
children,  who  are  still  under  age,  are  to  be  taken  from 
him,  because  he  would  have  them  educated  in  the  Prot- 
estant faith  which  he  has  embraced. 

I  give  in  the  Appendix  to  this  Letter  the  official  re- 
port of  the  persecution  in  France,  with  the  solemn 
promises  made  by  the  Emperor  of  Austria  on  the  repeal 
of  the  constitution* 


LETTER   VIII. 

HISTORICAL  RETROSPECT  AND  SOLUTION  OF  OUR  DIF- 
FICULTIES ON  THE  BASIS  OF  A  TRULY  CHRISTIAN 
POLITY. 

Charlottbnberg,  July  25th,  1855. 

St  James's  Day. 

My  Respected  Friend, 

A  marvelous  picture  of  historical  circumstances 
unrolled  itself  before  our  ejes,  when,  on  the  feast  of 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  we  closed  our  meditations  on 
the  relations  of  the  hierarchy  to  the  State,  to  the 
congregation,  and  to  the  conscience.  Our  reflections 
commenced  with  Boniface,  and  ended  with  his  now  liv- 
ing representative,  and  the  fellows  of  that  represent- 
ative. We  began  with  persecution  and  left  off  with 
persecution,  but  the  persecuted  had  become  the  per- 
secutors. 

Thus  we  have  reached  the  point  from  which,  follow- 
ing the  method  we  proposed  at  starting,  we  must  extend 
our  survey  to  a  world-wide  horizon,  in  order  to  see  if, 
taking  our  stand  on  the  groundwork  of  fact  lying  before 
us,  and  in  the  light  of  simple  truth,  we  can  attain  to  a 
practical  solution  of  the  perplexities  which  we  have  ex- 
hibited, and  thereby  approximate  to  an  understanding  of 
the  signs  of  the  times. 

Here,  too,  we  shall  borrrow  the  motto  of  our  medita- 
tions from  the  apostolic  recollections  connected  with  the 


192  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

day.  If  with  some,  in  speaking  of  St.  James,  we  think 
of  the  brother  of  our  Lord,  in  after  years  the  .head  of 
the  Jewish-Christian  congregation  in  Jerusalem,  we  can 
find  nothing  more  to  our  purpose  than  two  sayings  of 
that  pious  man,  which  may  well  recur  to  us  ofttimes  in 
pursuing  our  path  (James  iv.  12)  :  ''  There  is  one 
lawgiver,  who  is  able  to  save  and  to  destroy;  who 
art  thou  that  jud^est  another  ?  (James  ii.  13.)  For 
he  shall  have  judgmejit  without  mercy  that  hath 
shewed  rlo  mercy ,  and  msrcy  rejoiceth  against  judg- 
ment.^^ 

But  as  a  motto  drawn  from  the  disciple  James,  the 
brother  of  John,  in  default  of  any  words  of  his  own,  of 
which  none  are  handed  down  to  us,  we  will  take  that 
beautiful  saying  of  his  divine-souled  brother,  which  con- 
cludes his  First  Epistle,  and  in  which  he  warns  the  be- 
lievers to  abstain  from  all  idols,  therefore  from  every 
thing  unconditioned  which  is  not  God :  "  Little  children^ 
keep  yourselves  from  idols.     Am>en.^^ 

Let  us  first  cast  our  eye  back  over  the  course  of 
historical  development  which  has  passed  in  review 
before  us.  St.  Boniface  dies — a  victim,  as  it  ap- 
pears, to  religious  persecution — ^because  he  is  resolved 
to  preach  the  Gospel  of  the  love  of  God  in  Christ,  and 
of  the  freedom  of  the  Spirit  in  God.  But  Boniface 
himself  had  persecuted  his  fellow-apostle  of  the  same 
Gospel,  on  account  of  his  creed.  Clemens  had  been 
sent  forth  by  another  Catholic  brotherhood,  and  Boni- 
face had  no  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  over  him ;  while, 
as  a  Christian,  he  had  no  right  to  invoke  the  secular 
arm  against  him.  He  did  so,  however,  for  life  and 
death,  although  no  civil  charge  was  brought  against 
Clemens.  He  reviles  him  as  a  heretic  and  an  impure 
man,  because  Clemens  the  Briton  adheres  to  the  system 


HISTORICAL   RETROSPECT.  193 

of  doctrine  and  discipline  which  had  been  transmitted  to 
his  Church.  In  him,  Boniface  insults  the  whole  British 
Church  with  St.  Patrick  at  its  head,  which  had  remained 
stedfast  to  a  more  ancient  phase  of  Christianity  and 
theological  science.  The  successors  of  Boniface,  how- 
ever, left  masters  of  the  field,  displayed  still  greater 
animosity  as  soon  as  they  attained  to  power ;  and  in  the 
lapse  of  centuries  they  find  no  more  fitting  expression 
for  their  fiery  zeal  than  the  stake.  Dominic  becomes  a 
saint  because  he  gives  counsel  to  burn  the  A'lbigenses, 
although  with  some  show  of  mercy ;  eight  hundred 
years  later,  we  see  this  hierarchy  invoking  the  secular 
arm,  nay,  summoning  the  majesty  of  the  German  empire 
to  persecute  German  congregations  because  they  ask 
for  freedom  of  conscience,  and  to  make  war  upon  Ger- 
man princes  with  Spanish  troops  because  they  guaranty 
this  freedom.  And  the  summons  is  obeyed,  although 
those  congregations  and  princes  take  their  stand  on 
God's  word,  and  preach  the  doctrine  of  personal  faith  in 
Christ  as  the  Saviour  of  mankind  ;  although  they  pro- 
fess their  faith  in  the  creed  of  the  universal  Church 
concerning  God  and  Redemption ;  and  although  they 
refrain  from  all  acts  of  violence  and  persecution.  But 
the  doctrine  of  the  Gospel  maintains  its  ground  in  the 
empire  in  spite  of  persecution;  and  the  Protestant  Church 
becomes  free,  after  a  bloody  contest. 

And,  behold !  only  one  generation  later  we  see  this 
Protestant  Church  ruled  over  by  theologians  who  perse- 
cute their  own  brethren  to  the  glory  of  God  and  his 
Christ,  cast  them  into  prison,  and  slay  them  with  the 
sword  of  penal  justice,  because  they  are  suspected — of 
what  crime  ? — of  laboring  to  bring  about  an  approxima- 
tion to  the  reformed  doctrine  of  Calvin  ;  that  is  to  say, 
they  did  not  wish  that  a  philosophy  of  the  common  evan- 


194  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

gelical  belief  which  had  not  been  rejected  by  Melanc- 
thon,  should  be  condemned  as  heretical ! 

Again,  two  generations  later,  we  find  both  these 
bodies — the  followers  of  Luther  and  those  of  Calvin — 
engaged  alike  in  a  thirty  years'  warfare  with  the  adher- 
ents of  the  old  hierarchy,  which  is  leagued  with  Spain 
and  the  Pope  to  exterminate  the  Protestant  faith.  In 
this  struggle,  the  most  fierce  and  sanguinary  in  the 
whole  range  of  history,  not  even  excepting  the  Social 
War  in  ancient  Italy,  we  see  Germany  slowly  bleeding 
to  death.  The  fatherland  of  the  Reformation  loses  its 
rank  as  one  of  the  great  powers  of  the  world ;  nay,  it 
becomes  little  better  than  a  desert,  and  sinks  to  the 
verge  of  barbarism,  almost  as  much  through  the  conten- 
tions and  priestly  narrow-mindedness  of  the  Lutheran 
theologians,  as  from  the  attacks  of  the  Pope,  the  Jesuits, 
and  the  princely  houses  under  their  influence. 

But,  behold  !  at  the  same  epoch  in  England  and  Hol- 
land, we  see  the  Protestant  faith  victoriously  winning 
its  freedom,  and  spreading  itself  beyond  the  Atlantic. 

Finally,  in  our  own  days,  we  see  Protestant  nations 
in  a  steadily  progressive  condition,  taking  the  lead  in 
the  development  of  the  world's  history.  We  see  their 
citizens,  without  any  assistance  from  the  State,  iiay, 
without  any  co-operation  from  the  Established  Church 
of  England,  proclaiming  the  word  of  God  in  all  lan- 
guages, and  spreading  Christian  civilization  among  the 
peoples  of  the  earth ;  training  wild  tribes  up  to  form 
independent  states,  and  self-governing  peoples,  and  re- 
kindling sparks  of  noble  life  in  nations  apparently  de- 
funct. But  at  the  same  epoch,  also,  when  scarcely 
emerging  from  the  struggle  with  a  foe  grasping  at  uni- 
versal conquest,  the  priesthood  steps  forth  again,  after 
a  period  of  deep  prostration,  as  a  candidate  for  universal 


CLAIMS  OF   UNIVERSAL  DOMINION.  I95 

dominion,  and  soon  puts  forward  its  old  claims  with  re- 
newed vehemence  and  increased  inflexibility.  This 
movement  is  led  by  the  Catholic  hierarchy,  which  we 
see  nowhere  looking  for  support  to  the  people  over 
whom  it  rules,  but  everywhere  more  and  more  to  the 
governments  and  actual  possessors  of  power,  and  leaning 
upon  an  educational  society  under  clerical  management, 
which  proceeds  by  aggression,  and  is  revived  for  this 
purpose  by  the  Pope.  Wherever  its  claims  are  con- 
ceded, this  hierarchy  demands  and  practices  intolerance 
and  persecution  as  its  peculiar  and  divinely-bestowed 
right.  It  demands  them  as  a  condition  of  its  existence, 
and  enforces  them  as  the  attestation  of  its  exclusive  pos- 
session of  the  truth.  For,  according  to  this  party,  if  a 
theological  system  be  true,  and  a  discipline  of  Divine 
authority,  it  necessitates  exclusiveness ;  and  a  sincere 
faith  will  demand,  in  case  of  need,  legal  persecution  and 
the  extirpation  of  unbelievers  with  fire  and  sword  ;  while 
simple  intolerance  is  made  a  universally  binding  duty 
on  all  believers.  This  hierarchy  professes  to  rescue,  to 
secure,  and  to  defend  the  rights  and  liberties  of  Catholic 
populations  ;  and  nowhere  is  it  more  hated  than  in  ex- 
clusively Catholic  countries.  Nearly  all  the  Catholic 
reigning  houses,  however,  enter  into  alliance  with  it, 
support  the  papal  Church  system,  and  conclude  con- 
cordats with  Rome.  But  on  this  very  account  they  are 
obliged  to  attach  to  the  execution  of  these  concordats 
certain  protests  and  limitations  which  tacitly  involve  a 
denial  of  the  unconditional  claims  of  the  Papacy ;  and 
these  limitations  become  the  law  of  the  land.  Rome,  on 
her  side,  protests  against  them,  but  the  peoples  fully 
concur  in  their  necessity.  Nowhere  in  these  Catholic 
countries  is  there  any  hearty  resistance  offered  on  the 
part  of  the  nation  to  the  setting  aside  of  such  concord- 


196  SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES. 

ats ;  on  the  contrary,  in  almost  all,  we  see  them  collapse 
amid  the  rejoicings  of  the  people. 

The  same  hierarchical  system  demands  infringements 
of  the  legally  established  liberties  of  the  individual 
(which,  in  most  cases,  the  princes  have  recently  sworn 
to  maintain  with  solemn  oaths),  nay,  encroachments  on 
the  independence  of  the  civil  government  itself.  It 
calumniates  toleration  as  the  child  of  unbelief  and  indif- 
ference, and  makes  war  on  it  in  the  name  of  God  and 
the  Gospel.  It  designates  the  demand  for  freedom  of 
conscience  as  the  offspring  of  anti- Christian  and  revolu- 
tionary ideas  ;  regards  that  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the 
press,  under  whose  shelter  all  the  existing  sciences  have 
blossomed  forth,  as  an  ''  emanation  of  the  spirit  of  de- 
struction ;"  and  the  diffusal  of  those  Holy  Scriptures, 
from  which  it  professes  to  derive  its  own  authority,  is  the 
greatest  crime  of  all.  The  printing-presses  close,  and 
the  prisons  open  their  doors.  The  atmosphere  of  our 
earth  resounds  once  more  with  the  sighs  and  groans  of 
innocent  victims  of  persecution  ;  bayonets  surround  the 
altar  and  guard  the  throne  of  the  absolute  Spiritual 
Lord  of  Christendom  !  Meanwhile,  reigning  houses  re- 
gard the  hierarchy  as  their  best  bulwark ;  and,  there- 
fore, hand  over  to  its  guardianship,  to  an  extent  hitherto 
unknown,  the  sanctity  of  the  family — marriage,  and  the 
most  sacred  possession  of  society — popular  education  and 
mental  culture. 

But  not  less  mighty  are  the  currents  and  counter- 
currents  on  the  ecclesiastical  domain  of  the  Byzantine 
and  Protestant  Churches.  There,  too,  the  hierarchical 
spirit  raises  its  voice  against  all  toleration,  as  against  all 
education  of  the  people  or  clergy  which  does  not  proceed 
from  itself ;  and  what  is  done  by  the  clerical  body  itself 
in  both  these  departments  is  infinitely  less  than  what  is 


RE  VITAL  OF  THE   HIERARCHY.  197 

done  in  the  Catholic  Church.  In  Russia  itself  every 
movement  is  dependent  on  an  unlimited  sovereign  who 
is  at  once  Emperor  and  Pope.  The  clergy  under  his 
sway  proceed  against  priests  according  to  the  severest 
canon  law  in  the  world,  and  put  this  law  into  force 
against  all  in  accordance  with  the  most  cruel  reonilations 
of  ancient  Slavic  barbarism ;  certainly,  however,  making 
an  exception  in  the  case  of  those  who  can  purchase  their 
freedom  by  bribing  the  higher  powers.  What  has  saved 
the  wealthy  members  of  the  old  orthodox  Greek  Church 
in  Moscow  this  year  but  their  treasures  ?  *  By  such 
means  the  torrent  of  pure  clerical  violence  is  weakened, 
but,  at  the  same  time,  it  receives  an  imperial  color,  and 
is  sullied  by  a  corrupt  administration.  How  bloody 
that  imperial  color  was  under  Nicholas  we  have  already 
lamented.  The  counter-current  is  not  only  the  hatred 
of  the  world  (I  mean  of  the  nations),  but  within  the 
bosom  of  the  empire  itself,  the  wild  hatred,  exalted  al- 
most to  fury,  of  the  old  orthodox  against  the  State 
Church  of  Peter  the  Great.  The  working  of  the  system 
on  the  clerical  body  during  the  late  eventful  reign,  has 
been  the  extinction  of  the  more  liberal  tendency,  which,, 
under  Alexander,  had  brought  the  modem  Russian 
Church  nearer  to  the  older  Church,  and  thereby  to  the 
Bible  and  the  Reformation.  This  tendency  finds  a  noble 
representative  in  an  historical  personage,  Plato,  the 
Archbishop  of  Moscow,  whose  expressions  concerning 
the  Anglican  doctrine,  and  Bingham's  delineation  of  the 
ancient  Church,  have  inspired  Be  Maistre  with  such, 

*  The  old  High  Church  party  among  the  Greek  Church,  who 
look  upon  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople  as  their  rightful  head, 
and  the  Czar  as  an  usurper  of  the  spiritual  supremacy.  They 
date  from  the  time  when  Peter  the  Great  made  himself  head  of 
the  Church.— IV. 


198  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

horror  and  alarm  in  his  hook  entitled  '^'•Du  Pape^ 
Finally,  the  effect  of  the  system  upon  the  people  is  the 
decay  and  downfall  of  the  institutions  for  popular  educa- 
tion which  had  flourished  under  the  mild  scepter  of 
Alexander  I.  The  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  is 
called  in  mockery,  the  ministry  for  the  public  preven- 
tion of  instruction. 

Alexander  I.  favored  the  printing  of  the  Slavic  Bible, 
and  ordained  its  introduction  into  the  family  and  school 
— as,  indeed,  had  been  the  case  with  the  clergy  of  the 
Eastern  Church  in  general,  who,  wherever  they  have 
not  been  under  the  sway  of  the  Imperial  Pope,  have 
always  allowed  the  Scriptures  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the 
people,  and  with  blessed  results.  Some  English  philan- 
thropists have  suffered  themselves  to  be  deluded  by  the 
tale  that  the  yearly  donation  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society  (<£4,000  if  I  recollect  rightly)  is  now 
again,  as  an  act  of  favor,  allowed  to  be  applied  to  the 
printing  of  Bibles.  But  the  sum  is  simply  appropriated 
to  the  Protestant  provinces  of  the  Baltic  in  which  the 
Greek  Church  exercises  no  rights  but  those  of  conquest, 
and  that  contrary  to  treaty.  Again,  with  regard  to 
schools,  people  have  read  lately  of  their  having  been 
multiplied  threefold  (4,000  instead  of  1,400  throughout 
the  whole  empire)  under  the  reign  of  Nicholas.  Instead 
of  71,000  pupils,  there  are  now  stated  to  be  207,000, 
and  this  is  no  doubt  correct ;  but  it  must  not  be  forgot- 
ten that  the  new  schools  are  either  purely  military,  or 
else  fettered  institutions  regulated  on  an  entirely  miHtary 
footing,  and  that  the  same  Emperor  has  done  every  thing 
in  his  power  to  narrow  the  circle  of  instruction  in  the 
gymnasia,  or  higher  schools,  into  which  moreover  none 
but  the  upper  classes  have  admission.  The  Bible  is 
everywhere  suppressed ;  not  a  single  Slavonic  Bible,  as 


THE   BIBLE  SUPPRESSED.  199 

I  have  said,  has  been  printed  since  1826  to  the  present 
day,  in  the  whole  of  this  enormous  empire,  and  in  a 
Church  which  has  never  forbidden  the  Bible  to  the 
people.  No  foreign  mission  is  permitted,  even  among 
the  Mohammedans ;  while  the  Russian  State  Church  has 
never  made  converts  to  any  extent,  even  among  pagans, 
without  the  help  of  the  bayonet  and  the  tap-room.  Even 
the  peaceful  missionaries  of  the  Moravians  among  the 
Tartars  have  been  expelled. 

The  same  system  of  suppression  of  the  Bible  and 
every  sort  of  popular  education  now  prevails  throughout 
all  the  Byzantine  Churches  of  the  East,  and  does  so  by 
means  of  the  influence  which  Russia  exercises  over  the 
bishops.  These  are  her  tools ;  and  the  maintenance  of 
her  despotic  power  is  the  real  object  of  the  much- vaunted 
Christian  protectorate  of  Russia,  The  same  incubus 
weighs  upon  the  national  Church  of  Armenia,  which, 
like  all  the  independent  Churches  of  the  East,  reveals 
noble  germs  of  life,  and  particularly  in  Etschmiadzin 
shows  a  leaning  toward  Protestantism. 

With  great  truth  it  has  been  said  that  these  hopeful 
tendencies  in  the  Christian  Church  of  the  Turkish  Em- 
pire, especially  the  establishment  of  the  Bishopric  of 
Jerusalem  and  the  schools  and  institutions  connected 
therewith,  together  with  the  wonderful  progress  made 
by  the  American  missions,  which  have  carried  civiliza- 
tion and  prosperity  to  the  very  borders  of  Persia,  have 
not  been  without  weight  in  hastening  on  the  determina- 
tion to  execute  those  plans  of  conquest  so  prematurely 
begun.  We  hear  too  that  the  American  missions  have 
been  expelled  through  Russian  influence  from  the 
countries  around  Lake  Ooroomiah  and  the  Persian 
Kurdistan. 

Things  have  taken  a  different  shape  among  the  Greek 


200  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

nation  aspirmg  to  conBtitutional  freedom,  who,  in  spite 
of  the  deep  traces  left  by  their  long  servitude,  and  many 
unfavorable  circumstances,  yet  discover  an  indestructible 
vital  energy.  The  priestly  party  of  the  orthodox,  stirred 
up  by  Russia,  saw  with  aversion  the  severance  of  Greece 
from  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople — the  puppet  of 
two  despots,  and  victim  of  a  system  of  universal  bribery 
and  venality.  This  party  recognized  that  a  hierarchical 
domination  of  the  Hellenic  mind  would  not  be  possible 
without  a  Russian  Caesaro-papacy  in  Greece.  They^ 
therefore,  sought  by  every  means  in  their  power  to  shut 
out  the  light  that  was  breaking  in  from  the  West,  and  to 
nip  freedom  of  thought  in  the  bud.  Civil  liberty,  how- 
ever, and  the  noble  sentiment  pervading  the  popular 
mind,  preserved  the  possibility  of  a  tranquil  advance  of 
learning,  science  and  national  piety.  The  noble  and 
pious  funeral  oration  of  Kotzias  in  Athens  (to  select  the 
most  recent  instance),  pronounced  in  honor  of  his  great 
master  Schelling,  which  has  just  fallen  into  my  hands^ 
would  alone  suffice  to  prove  that  Greece  has  not  fallen  ^ 
prey  to  a  materialistic  philosophy ;  and  this  condition  of 
the  Greek  clergy  is  further  evinced  by  their  attitude 
toward  science  and  education;  with  regard  to  which 
their  behavior  toward  the  pious  American'  missionary, 
Mr.  Hill,  and  his  excellent  wife,  deserves  a  special 
remembrance. 

Thus  if  we  survey  the  spectacle  presented  by  the 
Oriental  Church,  here,  too,  we  see  intolerance  and  per- 
secution triumphant  only  through  the  aid  of  despotic 
power;  while,  in  spite  of  the  unfavorable  conjuncture 
of  the  present  moment,  toleration  and  freedom  of  con- 
science, coupled  with  intelligence,  moral  earnestness  and 
religious  faith,  are  evidently  destined  to  counteract  them 
victoriously  in  the  long  run. 


THE  ANGLICAN  CLERGY.  201 

If  we  now  turn  to  the  Protestant  Churches,  the  phe- 
nomenon of  Puseyism  in  the  Episcopal  Church  of  En- 
gland and  the  United  States  only  appears  as  a  faint 
reflection  of  the  hierarchic  schemes  of  Rome,  its  proto- 
type; while  it  is  met  by  a  puritanic  resistance  of  a 
thoroughly  national  type,  and  a  universal  aspiration  after 
greater  evangelical  liberty.  But  to  the  praise  of  both 
parties,  and  still  more  to  the  honor  of  England,  be  it 
said,  that  the  High  Church  clergy,  where  they  have  not 
gone  over  to  Romanism,  can  not  be  called  enemies  to 
civil  liberty,  any  more  than  their  theological  opponents, 
the  Evangelicals,  can  be  accused  of  a  leaning  to  a  Rus- 
sian Caesaro-papacy.  After  various  fluctuations,  many 
of  the  most  eminent  men  of  both  parties  are  now  agreed 
as  to  the  propriety  of  admitting  the  laity  to  a  share  in 
the  government  of  the  Church,  after  the  pattern  of  the 
reform  that  has  taken  place  in  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
the  United  States.  But  on  this  point  the  clerical  party 
displays  all  the  blindness  of  its  hereditary  absolutism. 
It  is  willing,  as  is  said  in  the  resolution  passed  this 
month  by  the  majority  of  Convocation,  to  "confer"  the 
franchise  on  the  laity,  without  dreaming  that  the  latter 
can  never  admit  that  any  such  power  resides  in  the 
clerical  body.  The  consequences  of  this  obstinate  cling- 
ing on  the  part  of  the  clergy  to  their  imaginary  right  to 
government  are  seen  in  the  indifference  of  the  nation  to 
their  proposals.  This  hierarchical  party  demands  from 
the  Crown  the  authority  to  draw  up  and  propose  for 
acceptance  a  reformed  ecclesiastical  constitution,  which 
it  has  no  more  right  to  do  than  the  old  French  provinc- 
ial parliaments  would  have  had  to  frame  a  scheme  for  a 
free  constitution  for  France.  As  little  does  the  right  of 
acceptance,  that  is  to  say  of  veto,  appertain  to  them. 
Besides,  the  nation  would  never  regard  any  constitution 

9* 


5i02  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

emanating  from  them  otherwise  than  with  great  mistrust, 
after  some  of  the  leading  bishops  have  openly  declared 
that,  in  any  case,  they  must  reserve  to  themselves  every 
thing  relating  to  doctrine  (including,  of  course,  the  re- 
form of  the  liturgy),  as  they  alone  possessed  a  divine 
commission  for  such  a  work.  No  doubt  they  honestly 
believe  that  the  Spirit  was  given  to  them  in  ordination 
for  this  purpose. 

The  counter-current  has  hitherto  exercised  little  more 
than  a  retarding  agency.  The  laity  and  the  parochial 
clergy  are  protected  by  the  common  law.  The  Bishop, 
can,  indeed,  canonically  depose  the  latter,  and  exclude 
the  former  from  the  communion ;  but  the  injured  party 
has  his  action  of  damages.  Thus,  for  practical  purposes, 
the  power  of  excommunication  has  entirely  ceased ;  and 
the  clergyman  is  too  certain  that  a  civil  action  will  be 
entered  against  him  by  common  law  before  a  jury,  to 
d^re  to  maintain  Church  discipline.  The  question  is 
now  whether  it  is  still  possible  .to  convert  this  negative 
position  of  affairs  into  a  positive  one.  To  this  end  a 
mixed  Royal  Commission  might  be  formed,  composed  of 
lay  and  clerical  members,  to  draw  up  and  propose  a 
scheme  of  Church  government  in  which  the  laity  should 
find  their  place.  That,  if  this  be  not  done,  the  entire 
separation  of  the  Church  from  the  State  will  come  to 
pass,  and  that  by  the  instrumentality  of  a  puritanic 
movement  among  the  people,  is  already  foreseen  by 
many.  Few,  however,  on  the  side  of  the  Church,  seem 
clear  as  to  the  mode  in  which  this  may  be  prevented,  or 
so  directed  as  to  lead  to  beneficial  results.  When  the 
due  time  comes,  the  problem  will  be  solved,  according  to 
the  circumstances  of  the  day,  by  the  public  spirit  of  this 
Protestant  nation,  without  spasmodic  commotion,  and  in 
the  way  most  favorable  to  the  interests  of  religion. 


THE  SAFEGUARDS  OF  ENGLAND.  20S 

But  the  fever  of  Puseyism  which  has  infected  the 
younger  half  of  the  clergy,  and  a  part  of  the  Univer- 
sity students,  together  with  the'  ladies  belonging  to  the 
upper  classes,  is  already  on  the  decline.  The  realities 
of  life  are  dispelling  it.  The  arduous  conflict  waged 
against  Russia,  with  its  solemn  aspects  for  religion  and 
humanityj  its  lessons  and  rebukes,  and  its  illustrious 
examples  of  self-devotion  among  those  who  are  not  mem- 
bers of  the  Established  Church  (as  in  the  case  of  the 
heroic  and  highly-gifted  Florence  Nightingale),  has 
awakened  all  who  are  worth  any  thing  from  their  dreams. 
Mediaeval  phantasms  vanish  before  such  realities  as  the 
mist  before  the  sun.  Thus  in  Pitt's  time  the  fever  of 
Jacobinism  was  healed  by  the  realities  which  called  out 
a  national  and  military  spirit;  thus  in  the  spring  of 
1848  the  broad  practical  common  sense  of  the  middle 
classes  proved  the  safeguard  of  the  nation  from  the  de- 
lirium of  communism  and  socialism.  Thus  here,  too, 
reality  will  deliver  the  English  from  the  sacerdotal  puer- 
ilities of  Puseyism. 

Every  thing  that  exercises  a  saving  influence  in  En- 
gland :  public  spirit ;  the  sense  of  legally  established  civil 
liberty,  as  a  closely  guarded  jewel,  as  the  very  health  of 
life ;  the  conviction  that  perfect  freedom  of  conscience  is 
alone  in  harmony  with  Christianity ;  that  every  check 
upon  this  is  persecution,  and  all  persecution  unchristian ; 
finally,  the  belief  that  in  this  unconditional  religious 
liberty  the  ameliorating  agency  is  really  to  be  found — 
all  this  is  wanting  to  that  clerical  tendency  in  Germany 
which  corresponds  to  Puseyism.  This,  in  adopting  the 
title  of  Lutheranism,  constitutes  itself  at  once  the  heir 
and  representative  of  the  genial  though  one-sided  piet- 
ism of  the  first  thirty  years  of  this  century,  while  it 
ra^kes  itself  at  the  ^ame  time  the  organ  of  absolute 


204  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

monarchical  power  and  the  privileges  of  the  feudal  nobil- 
ity, and,  above  all,  the  advocate  for  the  penal  laws  by 
which  the  external  discipline  of  the  Church  was  main- 
tained during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries. 
A  double  police  government  is  the  ideal  of  this  party, 
which  is  thereby  not  only  drawing  perdition  down  upon 
itself,  but  also  threatening  to  deliver  up  Protestantism 
and  the  State  into  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits.  That  this 
tendency  has  completely  got  the  upper  hand  in  Meck- 
lenburg, where  it  is  displaying  all  the  old  intolerance 
of  the  Lutheran  hierarchy,  arises  from  purely  political 
causes.  The  people  there  are  quite  unleavened  by  this 
spirit,  as  much  so  as  in  Pomerania  and  Brandenburg ; 
what  may  appear  as  such  is  only  an  artificial  excitement 
produced  by  the  clerical  or  lay  hierarchists. 

Meanwhile  the  free  congregational  and  synodal  organ- 
ization sprung  from  Calvinism,  approves  itself  under  the 
blessing  of  the  Union  in  the  Rhine  provinces  and  West- 
phalia, by  a  process  of  steady  and  tranquil  development. 
Holland  and  Switzerland  present  a  similar  spectacle. 
After  many  struggles — in  Holland  with  the  civil  power, 
in  Switzerlatid  with  an  unbelieving  democratic  party — 
that  liberal  tendency  has  conquered,  of  which  the  no- 
ble Vinet  was  the  apostle  and  martyr ;  and  with  the  ex- 
istence of  liberty,  a  solution  will  be  found  for  those  difl5- 
culties  which  still  remain.  Thus  in  Geneva  especially,  the 
old  evangelical  body  of  citizens,  the  town  of  Calvin,  will 
emerge  victoriously  from  strife  and  division,  while  in 
the  Canton  of  Vaud  a  better  state  of  things  has  already 
been  introduced  which  is  based  upon  a  secure  foundation. 

In  Sweden  the  Church  has  been  kept  freer  from  the 
power  of  the  State  than  the  other  Lutheran  Churches, 
but  it  has  remained  stationary  in  its  earliest  stage ;  it  is 
devoid  of  spiritual  life,  and  defaced  by  police  coercion, 


A  COMPARISON.  205 

which  it  has  the  unhappy  privilege  of  using  on  its  own 
account.  How  can  we  wonder,  therefore,  that  in  the 
Scandinavian  people  of  Sweden  a  revival  of  spiritual 
life  should  be  attended  with  convulsive  throes,  and 
threaten  to  degenerate  into  fanaticism !  How  can  we 
wonder  that  with  such  a  national  Church  the  Peasant's 
Chamber  should  be  the  great  stronghold  of  intolerance, 
which  retains  banishment  and  persecution  as  the  law  of 
the  land !  But  the  time  can  not  be  far  distant  when  the 
Swedish  people,  with  their  clergy  at  their  head,  will 
spurn  this  legacy  of  the  same  hierarchy,  to  break  whose 
yoke  they  have  for  centuries  poured  out  their  hearts' 
blood  with  noble  self-devotion  and  the  courage  of  Chris- 
tian faith.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  civil  freedom  is  about 
to  demand  and  conquer  religious  liberty. 

On  comparing  the  various  pictures  we  have  been  sur- 
veying, we  can  not  fail  to  detect  an  inward  resemblance 
in  spite  of  all  their  differences.  All  these  phenomena 
in  Asia  and  Europe  may  be  reduced  to  six  simple  propo- 
sitions : 

I.  The  absolutism  of  the  State  has  strengthened  the 
absolutism  of  the  hierarchy,  even  more  by  its  resistance 
than  by  its  patronage ;  for  it  has  shown  itself  unequal 
to  the  contest,  at  least  in  the  long  run. 

n.  Protestantism  has  nowhere  developed  itself  vigor- 
ously, and  exhibited  a  capacity  for  educating  a  people,  ex- 
cept where  the  reformation  of  the  Church  has  given  birth 
to  civil  liberty  as  its  logical  and  practical  consequence. 

These  evidences  of  vital  energy  and  practical  efficacy 
have  exhibited  themselves  only  in  connection  with  the 
Reformed  communities,  but  have  done  so  there  with 
such  power  as  to  affect  the  whole  course  of  history ; 
while  they  have  never  anywhere  been  manifested  in  con- 
nection with  the  Lutheran  churches. 


206  SIGNS   OP  THE  TIMES. 

III.  Civil  liberty  has  never  displayed  any  vigor  ex- 
cept where  it  has  rested  on  self-government  in  the  lower 
spheres  of  common  life ;  and  this  has  never  been  possi- 
ble except  where  freedom  of  conscience  exists.  This 
freedom  is  based  on  the  congregation,  and  the  idea  of  a 
congregation  has  its  root  alone  in  personal  religious  self- 
determination. 

lY.  The  Hierarchy  desires  freedom  of  conscience 
only  for  itself,  and  instinctively  combats  it  in  others. 

V.  Religious  liberty  has  never  yet  led  to  political 
revolution,  but  its  suppression  often  has. 

VI.  Intolerance  and  persecution  have  neither 
brought  blessings  to  governments  nor  peoples ;  but  they 
have  been  the  greatest  curse  to  Protestant  governments, 
because  in  this  case  they  have  involved  an  intrinsic  self- 
contradiction. 

Thus  the  congregation  is  the  root,  liberty  of  con- 
science is  the  soil ;  but  religious  self-determination,  the 
sense  of  moral  responsibility,  is  the  divine  energy  that 
causes  the  plant  to  spring  up. 

That  root  which  Boniface  found  already  in  a  feeble 
condition,  and  did  all  he  could  to  clip  and  dig  away, 
seemed  quite  dead  when  the  world  was  divided  between 
Emperor  and  Pope,  or  Pope  and  Emperor.  It  was  for- 
gotten in  Protestant  countries  also,  where  the  watchword 
was  only  Prince  or  Clergy.  But  behold !  suddenly  it 
begins  to  bud  afresh  in  every  land,  and  manifests  a  re- 
newed and  vigorous  life ;  not  in  self-destructive  strug- 
gles, nor  yet  in  mere  isolated  phenomena.  Mankind  feels 
that  something  new  is  about  to  be  born  into  the  world. 
This  root  of  the  Christian  life  in  union,  the  Chris- 
tia7i  congregation,  is  called  by  a  term  which  the  clergy 
have  appropriated  to  themselves,  and  which  has  thereby 
lost  its  true  meaning,  the  Church.     This  properly  sig- 


THE   ECCLESIA.  207 

nijfies  the  Christian  people,  regarded  as  an  organized 
and  well-arranged  community,  with  its  elders  and  serv- 
ants. The  congregation  existed  before  the  Christian 
imperial,  or  papal  power,  and  will  outlive  both.  All 
that  the  clergy  of  Boniface  say  of  the  Church,  is  per- 
fectly true  of  the  congregation,  the  Ecclesia  ;  which  is 
brought  forth  and  germinates  wherever  there  exists  a 
believing  household ;  and  has  no  limits  but  those  of  our 
planet.  Her  faith  builds  up  nations  and  States,  but  she 
has  no  fatherland  but  heaven,  that  is  to  say,  the  per- 
fected kingdom  of  the  Spirit.  In  spiritual  matters  she 
knows  no  father  {Papa)  but  God,  no  master  and  lord 
but  Christ,  no  code  but  the  Bible,  no  supreme  tribunal 
but  the  universal  conscience  of  humanity,  which,  re- 
generated by  the  power  of  that  charter  of  its  rights, 
is  building  itself  up  into  orderly  Christian  congrega- 
tions. 

It  is  this  Christian  congregation  of  believers  which 
in  the  camp  of  the  hierarchists  is  called  unbelieving  and 
godless,  and  in  the  camp  of  the  political  absolutists,  a  set 
of  fanatics.  Why  ?  Because  they  desire  toleration  and 
freedom  of  conscience,  and  because  freedom  of  conscience 
can  not  subsist  permanently  in  human  society  without 
civil  liberty.  Only  in  connexion  with  liberty  of  con- 
science does  the  page  of  history  present  us  with  the  free 
Christian  congregation  in  victorious  possession  of  its 
rights,  and  exercising  a  conservative  influence  on  the 
course  of  history.  With  majestic  tranquillity  the  Chris- 
tian Ecclesia  advances  to  the  reconstruction  of  a  world, 
while  absolute  heirarchism,  which  condemns  her  as  devil- 
ish, is  found  totally  powerless  to  save  peoples  or  States, 
though  mighty  indeed  to  draw  them  down  to  deeper  and 
deeper  destruction.  Certainly,  in  these  days  a  resus- 
citated hierarchy  is  exerting  an  increasingly  powerful 


208  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

influence  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  Western 
Continent,  and  even  of  our  own  country — nay,  in  one 
form  or  other,  everywhere.  The  converts  which  it 
makes  from  skepticism  easily  fall  a  prey  to  superstition ; 
nay,  many  thinkers  of  eminence,  and  powerful  govern- 
ments, are  coming  to  doubt  whether  the  hierarchy  is  not 
perhaps  destined  to  rule  the  world  once  more.  If  it  can 
not  regenerate  humanity,  or  remedy  disorganized  finances, 
it  may  yet,  perhaps  (so  think  many),  bind  up  the  bleed- 
ing wounds  of  the  present,  strengthen  the  hands  of  the 
governments,  and  bring  the  nations  repose. 

The  unprejudiced  observer  of  human  affairs  will  not 
be  deceived  as  to  the  true  bearings  of  this  conflict  of 
principles,  however  it  may  be  attempted  to  conceal  them. 
That  conscience  acting  under  the  guidance  of  reason, 
which  we  are  wont  to  call  healthy  common  sense,  and  its 
most  universal  expression — public  opinion — are  now, 
once  for  all,  steadfastly  fixed  on  the  actual  conditions  of 
civil  society,  and  are  becoming  daily  more  capable  of  a 
mature  judgment.  But  the  conscience  and  common 
sense  of  the  public  will  never  allow  them  to  be  persuaded 
out  of  the  belief  that  this  is  a  question  of  "to  be  or  not 
to  be"  for  the  Present;  and  of  what  is  to  rule  and  de- 
termine the  Future.  A  presentiment  of  the  approach 
of  the  latter  days  pervades  humanity  almost  as  it  did 
nineteen  centuries  ago.  The  temple  of  Janus  was  closed ; 
Augustus  reigned  without  a  rival ;  the  people  withdrew 
exhausted  from  the  arena.  But  do  we  see  the  reign  of 
true  peace — real  tranquillity  ?  Is  Rome  entering  on  the 
undisputed  sovereignty  of  the  world,  or  on  the  period  of 
her  own  decline  ?  There  came  a  voice  out  of  Judaea, 
and  where  remained  high-priesthood  and  the  Empire  of 
the  Caesars  ? 

Is  it  to  be  ebb  or  flood  ?  forward  or  backward  ?  up- 


FAILURE   OF  THE  HIERAECHY.  209 

ward  or  down  to  the  abyss  ?  This  is  the  question  in 
every  agitated  epoch  big  with  great  events,  great  recol- 
lections, and  great  expectations. 

Now  we  know  what  a  divine  energy  is  latent  originally 
in  the  Christian  Congregation,  namely,  that  of  a  free 
conscience.  In  this  lies  the  power  and  the  weakness  of 
the  hierarchical  system.  What  it  has  suffered  to  re- 
main of  the  congregational  element  is  that  which  keeps 
it  in  being,  despite  its  glaring  defects ;  the  want  of  a 
free,  self-responsible  conscience,  is  that  which  weighs  it 
down.  If  the  hierarchical  system  be  so  firmly  rooted  in 
the  affection  of  the  Catholic  populations  as  many  believe, 
why  can  it  be  kept  up  only  by  means  of  Concordats 
that  can  not  be  enforced,  and  special  privileges  that  can 
not  be  practically  maintained?  Why  can  it  hold  its 
ground  only  by  the  power  of  the  bayonet,  the  ignoring 
of  all  historical  science,  and  the  suppression  of  all  free- 
dom of  speech  and  of  the  press  ?  Why  must  the  noblest 
Catholic  populations  be  cut  off  or  restricted  from  med- 
dling with  ecclesiastical  matters — nay,  more  or  less  with 
intellectual  subjects  altogether — lest  they  should  be 
carried  away  by  the  spirit  of  fanaticism  ? 

As  in  nature,  so  in  history ;  a  force  acts  only  where 
it  finds  a  vacuum  in  which  it  encounters  no  opposing 
force  of  equal  magnitude.  Nothing  dies  except  from 
the  absence  of  inward  vital  energy ;  and  every  thing 
perishes  by  reason  of  itself,  namely,  by  its  own  principle 
of  self-seeking,  which  oversteps  the  conditions  of  its  ex- 
istence through  criminal  arrogance  or  blind  folly.  There 
is  nothing  which  has  been  created  and  subsists  as  an  end 
in  itself,  for  its  own  sake;  but  every  single  thing  lives 
in  relation  to  the  Whole  ;  but  that  Whole  subsists  only 
by  the  free  surrender  of  the  individual  for  the  common 
good. 


210  SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES.     . 

Why  was  the  eighteenth-century  system  of  turning 
the  body  politic  into  a  police-machine,  unable  to  main- 
tain itself?  Because  on  principle  it  sought  its  basis  in 
the  selfishness  of  dynasty  and  caste. 

Why  could  not  the  republic  endure  which  rose  upon 
the  downfall  of  the  throne  in  Catholic  countries  ?  Be- 
cause it  was  only  another  form  of  the  same  selfishness, 
and  contempt  of  the  rights  of  others. 

Why  perished  the  tolerance  and  religious  freedom 
which  was  preached  by  the  philosophers  of  the  Revolu- 
tion? Because,  like  those  men  themselves,  it  lacked 
the  deepest  groundwork  of  all  freedom — that  of  moral 
earnestness,  and  of  true  respect  for  that  humanity  whose 
liberation  it  proclaimed. 

Why  did  the  metropolitan  system  of  the  Galilean 
Church  and  St.  Boniface  fall  vanquished  in  its  contest 
with  the  absolutism  of  the  Papacy?  Because  it  had 
raised  itself  at  the  expense  of  the  Congregation.  It 
fell  by  the  very  principle  which,  for  a  time,  had  given 
it  power. 

Why  did  the  freer  system  of  the  British  Church 
vanish  before  the  episcopal  system  of  St.  Boniface? 
Because  it  no  longer  satisfied  the  requirements  of  the 
Congregation  and  those  of  humanity  ;  because  it  could 
no  longer  fulfill  its  vocation  in  the  world's  history. 
Power  is  ever  victorious  over  weakness ;  but  if  it  be  a 
selfish  power,  it  conquers  only  to  fall  into  deeper  de- 
struction. 

Why  did  the  Reformation  in  Germany  stand  still 
after  it  had  become  the  dominant  religion  in  nearly 
every  district  of  the  country  ?  Because  the  theologians 
and  nobles  who  guided  the  Protestant  peoples  did  not 
understand,  or  willfully  disregarded  their  high  vocation ; 
because  they  turned  the  divinely-bestowed  possession  of 


CAUSES   OF  ALL   DECAY.  211 

the  Congregation  to  their  own  ends  ;  because  they  denied 
their  own  fundamental  principle. 

What  in  our  own  days  has  brought  the  mediaeval  and 
Catholicizing  "Romantic  School"  into  vogue?  The 
emptiness  and  wickedness  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
What  has  corrupted  and  overthrown  this  ''  Romantic 
School?"  That  it  sought  the  future  in  the  past — that 
it  forgot  the  Congregation,  its  mother,  and  the  Free 
Spirit,  its  father  :  it  has  perished  because  it  disdained 
realities,  and  reveled  in  the  dreams  of  its  own  imagin- 
ation, if  it  did  not  stoop  to  selfish  ends  of  personal 
advantage. 

What  gave  Puseyism  its  power  in  Protestant  En- 
gland ?  The  want  of  intelligence  among  the  Evangeli- 
cals, the  one-sidedness  of  Methodism,  and  the  impotence 
of  the  philosophy  of  the  skeptical  eighteenth  century. 
What  has  thrown  Puseyism  into  the  arms  of  Rome? 
Its  toying  with  a  conscious  lie — with  a  self-seeking 
hierarchical  principle  on  the  domain  of  Protestant- 
ism. 

What  has  all  at  once  given  Lutheranism,  already 
odious  through  its  intolerance  and  bigotry,  such  an  in- 
fluence among  our  clergy  that  the  Lutheran  pastors  are 
rising  up  against  their  academical  instructors?  That 
many  of  these  latter  have  forgotten  or  neglected  life 
and  reality;  despised,  too,  in  some  cases,  the  poor  of 
Christ's  flock,  and  worshiped  themselves  and  their 
philosophy  as  an  ultimate  end,  instead  of  serving  the 
flock  of  the  Lord,  when  it  looked  up  with  wistful 
longing  to  those  who  held  in  their  hands  the  keys  of 
knowledge. 

What  has  shaken  to  its  center  the  Evangelical  Union 
in  Prussia,  and  prevented  its  establishment  on  a  firm 
foundation  ?     Not  simply  that  in  some  instances  proceed- 


212  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

ings  have  been  instituted  against  the  Old  Lutherans*  ac- 
cording to  the  strictest  letter  of  the  law ;  no,  it  is  because 
in  general  the  dictatorial  system  of  Church  government 
had  lost  the  forms  through  which  the  Congregation  with 
their  Synods  would  have  been  able  to  create  what  alone 
could  have  wrought  any  good ;  that  men  tried  to  build 
the  house  of  God  without  seeking  for  its  living  stones — 
to  plant  a  tree  without  leaving  room  for  its  roots  and 
branches  to  grow. 

There  is  one  eternal  law  of  the  universe  in  all  things 
— a  law  of  love,  but  also  of  almighty  power,  which  is  at 
work  in  all  these  phenomena.  But  there  are  times  when 
this  divine  law  claims  its  right  more  loudly  than  is  its 
wont — when  the  Spirit  of  God,  moving  through  the  ranks 

*  The  "  Old  Lutheran"  party  took  its  rise  in  1830 — many  years 
after  the  Union  had  been  in  full  and  beneficial  operation  through- 
out Prussia — when  Scheibel,  a  professor  in  Breslau,  refused  to 
use  those  formularies  in  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
which  rendered  it  possible  for  Calvinists  to  join  in  the  communion. 
He  soon  found  a  considerable  number  of  adherents,  in  spite  of  the 
king's  repeated  declarations  that  the  Lutherans  were  not  required 
by  the  Union  to  lay  aside  their  distinctive  creed,  but  merely  to 
admit  the  Reformed  Churches  to  practical  Christian  fellowship; 
and  the  king,  much  annoyed  by  a  movement  which  threatened 
the  existence  of  the  Union,  endeavored  to  put.  a  stop  to  it  by 
measures  of  repression.  These  were  more  harshly  enforced  than 
he  intended  by  the  Government  officials,  and  led  to  the  banish- 
ment of  Scheibel  from  Silesia ;  the  incarceration  of  several  minis- 
ters ;  to  the  occupation  of  the  Church  of  Hoeningen,  in  Silesia, 
on  Christmas-day,  1834,  by  soldiers,  to  keep  out  the  real  congre- 
gation and  install  the  new  minister ;  with  other  acts  of  persecu- 
tion. The  king,  whose  advanced  age  rendered  him  timorous 
and  unimpressible,  did  not  perceive  the  gross  injustice  of  these 
proceedings;  but  on  the  accession  of  the  present  sovereign,  the 
grievance  was  redressed  by  an  act  granting  full  liberty  of  worship 
to  the  "  Old  Lutherans,"  as  a  separate  body  from  the  "  Evan- 
gelical Church." — Tr. 


FREEDOM  OF  CONSCIENCE  NEEDFUL.     213 

of  men,  is  more  visible  and  audible  than  in  ordinary 
ages.  These  are  the  times  in  which  things  tend  rapidly 
to  restoration  or  destruction.  Our  age  is  such  an  epoch 
— especially  in  our  fatherland. 

Let  us  leave  politics  behind  for  a  moment,  let  us  not 
discuss  the  separation  of  Church  and  State  as  if  this 
were  the  magic  talisman  which  would  give  us  all  that 
we  desire.  Certainly  many  things  do  seem  to  tend  that 
way,  and  it  will  surely  come  to  that,  if  the  present  con- 
ditions of  things  do  not  answer  to  the  wants  of  humanity, 
if  they  conduct  to  more  hopeless  entanglement  instead 
of  yielding  a  clew  to  the  gradual  solution  of  our  per- 
plexities. But  one  thing  now  is  needful — most  urgently 
needful — namely,  freedom  of  conscience  ;  that  is  to 
say,  free  room  for  the  divine  impulse  to  act  in  individ- 
uals and  in  the  Congregation  ;  a  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  any  pressure  exercised  upon  the  conscience  is  rebel- 
lion against  God.  It  is  no  longer  proud  toleration  of 
error,  but  equality  of  rights  on  the  domain  of  conscience, 
that  must  be  granted.  The  protective  forms  of  law, 
which  afford  free  scope  to  every  Christian  community 
that  proves  itself  to  be  a  religious  body,  are  at  the  same 
time  the  most  effectual  means  of  averting  that  Socialism 
and  that  subversive  tendency  in  politics  which  here  and 
there  assume  the  mask  of  religious  congregational  activ- 
ity. Only  under  this  banner  is  it  possible  to  withstand 
every  kind  of  absolutism  which  seeks  to  establish  its 
supremacy  in  the  domjfin  of  the  Spirit  by  legal  coercion 
exercised  by  the  State  or  the  Church.  None  but  a  free 
State  can,  with  consistency,  condemn  arbitrary  acts; 
none  but  a  free  State  can  succeed  in  establishing  tolera- 
tion where  it  is  wanting,  transforming  it  into  freedom 
where  it  exists,  perfecting  in  faith  what  has  been  begun 
in  faith,  even  if  carried  out  by  philosophers. 


214  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Man  can  not  live  without  breathing  the  vital  air ;  the 
Ecclesia  of  that  Christianity  which  is  one  with  morality, 
and  works  by  moral  means,  can  not  live  without  the 
divine  atmosphere  of  liberty  of  conscience.  All  desire 
to  possess  this  liberty,  and  with  reason ;  but  none  should 
desire  this  divine  treasure  for  himself — for  his  own  selfish 
ends.  Each  should  make  himself  worthy  of  his  freedom 
by  respecting  that  of  his  neighbor,  and  by  honestly  rec- 
ognizing the  universal  authority  of  the  "royal  law  of 
liberty."  From  within  outward  must  all  change  for  the 
better  proceed ;  and  the  Governments  which  desire  such 
a  change  must  lead  the  way  by  setting  a  good  example. 
The  star  which  they  have  worshiped,  the  power  to  which 
they  have  bowed  down,  fades  away  with  the  dawning  of 
the  sun  of  liberty  of  conscience,  the  emanation  of  that 
divine  Light  which  shone  out  on  this  world  in  Christ 
Jesus.  The  path  of  unconditional  and  unmeasured 
exercise  of  arbitrary  power,  which  the  spiritual  powey 
has  entered  on,  will  lead  as  a  matter  of  fact,  and  by  the 
necessities  of  its  nature,  to  ever-increasing  embarrass- 
ments with  the  State  as  well  as  with  the  individual. 
These  embarrassments  will  call  out  more  and  more  open 
resistance ;  this  will  lead  to  harsher  and  harsher  oppres- 
sion, from  whence  to  despair  and  deadly  strife  the  step 
is  not  wide. 

The  world  is  no  longer  what  it  was  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  great  French  Revolution.  At  that  era,  egotistic 
absolutism,  and  the  most  rigorous  restraints  on  conscience 
proceeding  from  Spain  and  Rome,  had  brought  mankind 
to  the  skepticism  of  despair,  or  the  bitter  mockery  of  a 
Rabelais.  For  this  reason  Christianity  had  died  out  in 
the  nations.  It  may  indeed  have  survived  in  individuals 
as  a  Thought,  but  not  as  Will,  which  can  re-mold  life 
and   society.       Moral   courage   and   earnestness   were 


THE   ROMANTIC   SCHOOL.  216 

wanting,  and  the  contest  began  on  the  pestilential  soil 
of  skepticism  and  moral  corruption  which  the  Jesuits 
and  their  abettors  had  left  behind  them.  Such  a  soil 
could  at  first  bring  forth  nothing  but  poisonous  fungi^ 
and  it  brought  them  forth.  But  a  nobler  growth  sprang 
up  with  them,  and  gathered  strength  from  the  air  of 
freedom.  Now  the  case  is  far  otherwise.  The  races  of 
Europe  are  sighing  for  the  Gospel  and  its  peace,  but 
also  for  its  light  and  its  liberty.  "  More  light,"  was 
Goethe's  last  word;  ''more  darkness,"  the  first  word 
of  the  hierarchy  after  its  restoration.  The  Romanticists 
promised  a  golden  future ;  noble  minds  reveled  in  the 
poetry  of  a  departed  age,  and  idolized  its  defects  and 
follies,  while  they  looked  down  with  contempt  on  the 
sober  sense  (sometimes,  too,  on  the  "  common-place 
morality")  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Sophistical 
historians  whitewashed  all  the  bloody  men  of  violence 
and  persecution,  and  cast  suspicion  on  the  heroes  of 
freedom  and  humanity.  Sophistical  dabblers  in  politics 
taught  that  tyranny  was  freedom,  selfishness,  the  true 
statesmanship  of  princes,  and  the  State,  a  mere  bundle  of 
personal  and  separate  interests.  Others  desired  to  make 
us  believe  (and  did  really  find  faith  among  great  men  and 
princes)  that  modern  political  economy  leads  to  the  dis- 
solution of  the  State,  and  is  equally  false  and  godless; 
that  closed  guilds,  monopolies,  and  prohibitory  laws  were 
the  pillars  of  prosperity,  and  would  restore  the  disor- 
dered national  finances  to  a  healthy  state.  Adam  Miiller 
based  the  three-course  system  of  agriculture  formerly  in 
use  upon  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity !  Mystagogues 
proved  that  the  true  history  of  all  science  and  art,  as 
well  as  religion,  was  mystical — a  secret  hidden  from 
reason,  and  true  from  its  very  contradiction  to  her. 
According  to  this  view  nothing  was  so  unreasonable  as 


216  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMEa 

reason ;  but  still  there  was  a  science  of  the  Incompre- 
hensible for  the  believers  in  the  Pope,  which,  soaring  on 
the  wings  of  mediaeval  art,  was  destined  in  a  few  years 
to  give  the  lie  to  all  the  proud  wisdom  of  the  last  few 
centuries,  and  convict  them  of  impious  error.  History 
was  turned  into  legend.  Nothing  was  any  longer  cer- 
tain but  what  contradicted  reason :  that  the  earth  turned 
round  the  sun  was  called  very  doubtful  among  Protest- 
ant hypocrites  or  weaklings :  while  in  France  shining 
crosses  in  the  sky,  and  letters  of  the  Virgin  Mary 
fallen  down  from  heaven,  claimed  credence — and  ob- 
tained it ! 

"What  has  become  of  all  these  phantasmagoria?  Des- 
pite them,  the  Parthenon  has  remained  in  its  ancient 
glory  beside  the  Gathic  minsters,  and  as  a  world-wide 
type  for  all  ages,  stands  above  them ;  and  the  exaggera- 
tions of  the  mediaeval  spirit  are  now  found  as  ridiculous 
as  those  of  the  antique.  The  prophecies  relating  to 
science  have  proved  themselves  equally  delusive  with 
those  concerning  politics.  Where  are  the  historians  who 
write  German  history,  npw-a-days,  after  the  fashion  of 
Frederick  Schlegel,  or  political  economy  according  to 
Adam  Miiller  ?=^ — political  jurisprudence,  according  to 
Haller  ? — the  history  of  ancient  religions,  according  to 
Gorres  ?  or  that  of  Christianity,  according  to  Stolberg  ? 
or  biblical  criticism,  according  to  Hengstenberg  ?  There 
are,  indeed,  some  who  do  so,  but  not  one  writer  of  note 

*  Adam  Miiller,  author  of  "  Ueber  die  Nbthwendigkeit  einer 
iheologischen  Grundlage  der  Staatswissetischaft  und  Staatsvnrth- 
schqfi"  was  born  at  Berlin  in  1779,  and  turned: Catholic  in  1805, 
after  which  he  was  much  employed  by  Metternich,  at  Vienna, 
where  he  lectured  and  wrote  on  a  new  system  of  national  and 
political  economy,  which,  according  to  him,  was  based  upon 
Christian  prmciples.    He  died  in  1829. — Tr. 


RESULTS  OF  FREEDOM  OF  CONSCIENCE.        217 

— hot  one  who  has  a  seat  or  a  voice  in  the  republic  of 
letters.  Such  a  journal  as  the  Univers  can  maintain 
itself  only  on  the  field  of  skepticism  and  religious  indif- 
ference. 

And  what  has  become  of  those  who  wished  to  convert 
the  people  without  the  Bible  ?  and  make  them  obedient 
without  will?  and  learned,  without  mental  freedom? 
Do  the  governments  which  have  re-established,  or 
at  least  are  favoring  the  Jesuits,  come  to  that  Society 
when  they  want  to  re-animate  science  which  has  died 
out  in  their  countries,  and  implant  learned  culture 
afresh  ? 

There  is  no  Stre7igth  without  Freedom:  that  is 
the  lesson  taught  by  all  modern  history  and  recent 
politics  to  our  governments.  There  is  no  Freedom 
without  its  due  Bounds^  therefore  without  moral  earn- 
estness and  the  love  of  the  Gospel,  which  alone  can 
assign  its  rightful  limits.  That  is  their  lesson  for  the 
peoples. 

The  licentiousness  of  the  democratic  element  in  the 
popular  movements  of  Germany  has  blinded  the  eyes  of 
many  to  a  truth  which  in  1848  was  undisputed  and  un- 
mistakable, namely,  that  the  retrograde  movement  in 
the  world  of  thought  which  began  in  1821,  is  strongly 
and  increasingly  on  the  decline,  and  must  decline  there- 
fore also  in  the  regions  of  politics  and  religion.  But  the 
full  force  of  the  counter-wave  will  be  felt  all  the  more 
powerfully  the  more  unexpectedly  it  overtakes  us. 
This  is  my  profoundest  conviction,  and  I  doubt  not, 
yours  also,  my  honored  friend.  But  even  those  who 
do  not  share  it  with  us,  ought  on  that  very  account 
to  join  with  us  on  the  matter  of  freedom  of  con- 
science. Where  has  this  led  to  revolution?  Where 
has  restraint  on  conscience  ever  issued  in  the  tranquil- 

10 


218  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

lizing  of  tne  people  and  the  lasting  restoration  of  the 
governments  ? 

It  is  as  superfluous  to  demonstrate  the  morality  and 
reasonableness  of  freedom  of  conscience  and  religious 
toleration  for  those  who  enter  on  the  consideration  of 
the  subject  in  good  faith  and  earnest  thought,  as  for 
those  who  will  listen  to  nothing  which  runs  counter  to 
their  prejudices,  or  (what  is  worst  of  all)  their  personal 
and  corporate  standing.  He  who  will  have  a  church 
must  build  up  a  congregation ;  but  the  stones  of  the 
edifice  are  the  free  consciences  of  the  individual  be- 
lievers. The  whole  structure  rests  upon  personal  piety ; 
therefore,  upon  respect  for  conscience  and  faith  in  God's 
free  Spirit.  If  any  will  not  hear  the  voice  of  the  Lord 
and  his  disciples,  nor  yet  that  of  his  own  conscience,  we 
refer  him  to  the  earliest  and  the  latest  martyrs  of  relig- 
ious liberty — Barclay  and  Vinet.  If  he  be  a  speculat- 
ive philosopher,  to  Kant,  Fichte,  and  Hegel  also,  or 
even  to  their  seeming  opponents,  Rosmini*  and  Gioberti 
— ^may  whose  ashes  rest  in  peace,  and  their  memory  be 
blessed  !  As  with  the  Gospel,  so  with  modern  German 
philosophy  the  State  is  the  highest  realization  of  the 

*  Since  Rosmini  is  not  so  well  known  in  England  as  the  Abbe 
Grioberti,  it  may  be  as  well  to  mention  that  he  was  the  author  of 
some  philosophical  works,  for  which  Gioberti  attacked  him  in  a 
special  treatise,  ^'■Degli  errori  filosofici  di  Rosminiy  While  Ros- 
mini's  semi-clerical  philosophy  was  considered,  on  the  one  hand, 
perfectly  sufficient  to  overthrow  German  philosophy,  it  neverthe- 
less gave  umbrage  to  the  Roman  Pontiff  by  its  liberality.  Ros- 
mini accordingly  recanted  any  error  into  which  philosophy  might 
have  led  him,  and  retired  into  a  convent  in  Lombardy,  with  a 
number  of  devoted  followers  called  Rosminiani,  who  gave  them- 
selves to  preaching  whenever  they  were  asked  to  do  so  in 
churches.  He  died  last  year  in  Lombardy,  and  by  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  clerical  party  is  regarded  as  a  saint. — Tr. 


MARRIAGE.  219 

moral  idea,  and  religion  has  its  divine  root  in  the  moral, 
therefore  free,  unforced,  conviction.  If,  finally,  he  be 
a  student  or  writer  of  history,  let  him  read  the  co- 
temporary  memoirs  of  the  last  three  hundred  years 
as  living  facts  and  testimonies  for  the  respective  influ- 
ences of  religious  liberty  and  religious  oppression  on 
nations. 

And  now,  since  I  have  made  this  open  confession  of 
faith  (or  rather  renewed  it,  for  I  have  never  had  any 
other  faith  than  that  of  freedom),  I  will  with  good 
courage  go  straight  to  the  heart  of  things  as  they  are. 
We  found  in  our  former  meditation  in  what  an  irrecon- 
cilable antagonism  the  absolutism  of  the  State  was  in- 
volved with  that  of  the  Church,  and  we  are  brought  by 
the  history  of  the  conflict  itself  to  the  conclusion,  that 
the  disappearance  of  the  Christian  people  as  the  organ- 
ized Christian  Congregation,  and  of  mental  freedom  as 
the  vital  air  of  faith,  may  be  considered  as  the  funda- 
mental origin  of  this  internecine  strife.  If  our  view  be 
correct,  the  way  of  escape  must  be  clear,  and  the  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  easy  in  all  Christian  States,  whether 
the  complete  separation  of  the  civil  government  from 
the  ecclesiastical  take  place  or  not.  By  finding  a  solu- 
tion, I,  of  course,  refer  only  to  the  laying  down  of  first 
principles  ;  the  world-wide  scope  of  our  present  problem 
of  itself  precludes  our  following  out  these  leading  prin- 
ciples into  their  special  applications. 

The  first  dispute  we  encountered  was  that  concerning 
MARRIAGE ;  and  here  there  are  three  points  in  particular 
which  present  difficulties  to  the  legislator:  first,  the 

RELATION  OF  THE  StATE  TO  THE  CONTRACT  OP  MAR- 
RIAGE;  secondly,  its  relation  to  the  dissolution 
OP  MARRIAGE ;  thirdly,  ITS  relation  to  mixed  mar- 
riages. ^-' 


220  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

The  principle  of  solution  with  regard  to  the  contract- 
ing of  marriage  was  first  broached  by  Napoleon ;  Peel's 
application  of  this  principle  in  England  is  insular  in  its 
character,  resting  on  entirely  peculiar  historical  rela- 
tions. The  Episcopal  Church  alone  has  power  to  cele- 
brate marriages  for  all  sects  alike  ;  in  the  case  of  Catho- 
lics and  Dissenters  all  that  is  required  is  for  the  bridal 
pair  to  make  a  very  simple  declaration  before  the  civil 
registrar.  Several  States  of  the  American  Union  have 
gone  further  still,  but  in  them  there  exists  a  complete 
separation  of  Church  and  State.  Thus,  again,  England 
has  no  civil  legislation  with  regard  to  the  dissolution  of 
marriage.  Her  tribunals  recognize  nothing  but  the 
canonical  laws  of  the  Popes,  which  know  no  divorce, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  cause  the  parties  to  swear  that 
they  will  not  suffer  themselves  to  be  divorced.  But 
since  Charles  the  Second's  time,  the  custom  has  gradu- 
ally crept  in  (as  regards  the  rich,  that  is  to  say)  of  ap- 
plying to  the  Upper  House  in  cases  of  adultery — only 
that  of  the  wife,  however — in  order  to  obtain  a  divorce 
by  a  private  bill :  a  privilege  in  the  old  sense  of  the 
word.  A  legislation  so  replete  with  self-contradiction  is 
by  no  means  calculated  to  supply  the  deficiency  of  the 
civil  code ;  and  the  introduction  of  judicial  divorce  in 
accordance  with  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  which  is  al- 
ready proposed,  will  be  the  forerunner  of  wider  reforms 
in  civil  legislation. 

Napoleon's  system  of  jurisprudence  is  a  model  as  re- 
gards the  recognition  of  the  independence  of  religious 
from  civil  legislation :  the  State  can  dissolve  only  that 
which  it  has  sanctioned,  namely,  the  civil  contract  of 
marriage;  the  Church  retains  her  right  to  exert  au- 
thority within  her  own  domain — that  of  conscience  and 
morals — even  by  exclusion  from  the  pale  of  her  com- 


THE  CIVIL  MARRIAaE.  221 

munion,  according  to  her  laws.'  In  establishing  this 
principle,  Napoleon  was  treading  in  the  footsteps,  not 
alone  of  Solon  and  the  twelve  tables,  but  also  of  Abra- 
ham and  Moses,  and  the  laws  of  the  ancient  Christian 
Church.  He  put  an  end  to  an  encroachment  on  the 
part  of  the  ecclesiastical  law  which  had  taken  place 
during  the  mediaeval  chrysalis-period  of  Christianity. 
On  this  point,  too,  his  Code  is  greatly  superior  to  the 
Prussian  Code,  which  makes  the  priestly  benediction  a 
condition  of  the  validity  of  a  marriage,  and  yet  dissolves 
this  religious  marriage,  regardless  of  all  ecclesiastical 
law  or  moral  earnestness.  It  must  not,  however,  be 
forgotten  that  this  moral  laxity  subsisted  in  the  practice 
of  the  German  law  long  before  the  Prussian  Code  was 
framed.  The  German  jurisprudence  had  not  indeed 
reached  that  contempt  for  marriage  which  constituted 
the  exclusive  glory  of  Poland  and  Venice,  where  a  show 
of  force  in  the  solemnizing  of  the  marriage  was  permit- 
ted to  take  place  in  order  to  form  a  ground  for  proving 
it  invalid  subsequently.  In  Protestant  Saxony,  how- 
ever, for  instance,  any  marriage  could  be  set  aside  at 
will,  on  the  plea  of  divorce  for  adultery,  or  forsaking 
with  malicious  intent,  by  a  criminal  understanding  or 
collusion  between  the  parties.  The  corruption  thus  en- 
gendered was  so  great  that  it  was  thought  less  immoral 
to  facilitate  the  obtaining  of  a  divorce  by  honest  means 
than  to  have  it  obtained  by  lying  .-and  perjury.  With 
such  laws  it  was  a  great  inconsistency,  a  contempt  for 
the  Gospel,  an  insult  to  the  Congregation,  an  unex- 
ampled piece  of  tyranny  toward  conscientious  clergymen, 
that  the  law  required  them  to  treat  a  marriage,  dissolved 
in  contradiction  to  every  Christian  precept,  as  non- 
existent, and  to  pronounce  the  benediction  on  a  fresh 
marriage,  which,  according  to  the  undeniable  precepts 


222  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

of  the  Gospel,  was  mere  legalized  adultery.  But  the 
solution  of  these  difficulties  is  to  be  found  only  in  a  civil 
marriage.  Equally  inconsistent,  however,  is  the  in- 
validity established  by  usage  in  the  French  courts  of 
law  (it  is  not  so  in  the  Belgian)  of  a  marriage  contracted 
by  a  man  who  was  formerly  a  Roman  Catholic  priest. 
But  the  prohibition  of  divorce  (by  the  law  of  8th  March, 
1816),  which  was  introduced  at  the  Restoration,  dis- 
turbed the  whole  of  the  laws  relating  to  marriage,  and 
was  besides,  for  the  Protestants,  an  insulting  oppression 
on  their  consciences.  By  this  measure  the  Government 
of  the  Restoration  not  only  evinced  its  servility  to  Rome, 
but  also  proclaimed  that  the  Bourbons  had  less  faith  than 
Napoleon  in  the  vital  power  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
They  believed  as  little  as  the  papal  clergy  that  the 
Church  would  be  able  to  maintain  itself  against  the 
operation  of  the  civil  law.  Had  moral  earnestness  been 
the  motive  for  this  change  they  would  have  adopted  a 
stricter  standard  with  regard  to  the  grounds  of  divorce 
admitted  into  the  code.  The  abrogation  of  the  thoroughly 
immoral  ground  of  "mutual  consent,"  which  holds  out 
a  temptation  to  levity  in  the  contracting  of  marriage, 
and  lowers  matrimony  to  the  level  of  concubinage,  had 
found  universal  approbation.  It  was,  moreover,  from 
this  unbelief  in  their  own  Church  that  they  gave  the 
Protestants  no  legal  remedy  against  the  operation  of  this 
law,  which  was  entirely  in  opposition  to  their  own  con- 
sciences; it  was  feared  that  to  make  an  exception  in 
their  case  would  lead  thousands  over  to  Protestantism. 
The  experience  of  Belgium  and  the  Rhine  provinces,  in 
which  this  Bourbon-papal  mutilation  of  the  Code  Napo- 
leon has  not  taken  place,  testifies  for  the  power  of  a  free 
conscience. 

According  to  the  conscience  of  aill  Christian  nations 


biyoRCE.  223 

marriage  can  be  dissolved  by  death  alone.  But  the 
majority  of  Christian  nations,  both  in  the  East  and 
West,  consider  at  this  day,  with  the  Gospel  and  the 
ancient  Church,  that  death  ensues  as  regards  the  mar- 
riage contract  when  the  wife  betrays  the  sanctity  of 
paternity  intrusted  to  her  keeping — and  it  is  this  alone 
which  is  called  by  the  ancient  Christians,  as  by  the  Jews, 
adultery.  But  it  is  an  equal  crime  when  the  husband 
does  not  afford  the  protection  he  has  promised,  but  breaks 
his  faith  as  a  husband  and  master  of  a  family,  by  forsaking 
his  wife  with  malicious  intent.  In  both  cases  the  natural 
consequence  can  be  nothing  else  but  entire  civil  death, 
extending  to  the  devolving  of  the  estate  upon  the  next 
heirs  during  the  lifetime  of  the  parties,  and  incapacity  to 
enter  into  a  fresh  union  and  beget  legitimate  issue.  But 
the  great  and  wealthy  have  found  the  Christian  yoke  too 
hard,  and  thus,  after  the  degradation  or  annihilation  of 
the  Congregation  which  has  crept  in,  in  the  civil  as  well 
as  ecclesiastical  sense,  during  the  course  of  centuries, 
they  have  endeavored  to  evade  these  consequences  of 
crime  by  immoral  juristic  quibbles  and  legal  iniquities. 

This  is  the  cleaa:  doctrine  of  the  Gospel  and  Apostles, 
which  I  have  long  recognized  and  professed,  in  opposition 
more  especially  to  the  inclination  sometimes  shown  to 
touch  the  laws  relating  to  marriage  with  the  profane 
hands  of  police  regulation;  and  probably  I  may  have 
occasion,  before  long,  to  come  before  the  Church  with  a 
further  exposition  of  these  principles.  The  solution  of 
the  problem  from  this  point  of  view  is  very  simple.  The 
State  may  either  bring  its  action  into  harmony  with  this 
evangelical  view,  as  will  probably  be  the  case  in  England, 
or  it  can,  after  the  example  of  the  French  and  Prussian 
codes,  open  the  door  to  a  somewhat  wider  mode  of  meet- 
ing the  difficulty.     As  regards  the  grounds  of  divorce  in 


224  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

the  dissolution  of  the  civil  marriage,  the  Code  Napoleon 
has  clearly  hitherto  maintained  a  higher  moral  position 
than  that  of  Prussia.  But  I  must  here  repeat  that  the 
ground  taken  by  the  latter  was,  to  a  great  extent,  a 
mere  attempt  to  set  bounds  to  the  immorality,  shame- 
lessness  and  ungodliness  to  which  the  higher  classes  had 
abandoned  themselves  previous  to  the  great  French 
Revolution.  Their  immoral  grounds  of  divorce  found 
neither  approval  nor  imitation  in  the  middle  and  lower 
walks  of  life,  till  the  poison  had  gradually  oozed  down 
from  above.  The  French  Code,  likewise,  is  stained  with 
the  permission  of  divorce  by  mutual  consent;  but  a 
divorce  on  this  ground  which  turns  marriage  into  con- 
cubinage, can  take  place  only  under  circumstances  which 
make  it  very  difficult  to  be  obtained.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  project  of  law  which  was  laid  before  the  Prus- 
sian Chambers  last  year  by  the  Government,  places  our 
code  above  that  of  France ;  and  it  is  only  to  be  regretted 
that  that,  as  well  as  the  stricter  project  introduced  by 
Stahl,  both  suffer  from  the  curse  of  police  interference. 
The  State  has  no  right  to  raise  an  accusation  which  the 
injured  husband  or  wife  does  not  raise.  No  one  will 
expect  any  blessing  to  result  from  giving  the  police 
power  to  protect  the  sacredness  of  marriage  and  punish 
its  infringement,  who  has  seen,  in  the  ecclesiastical 
pattern-State  of  Rome,  how  easily  with  hypocrisy  it  can 
be  abused  to  the  perpetration  of  the  greatest  iniquities. 
The  sins  of  the  poor  are  visited,  while  the  often  far 
deeper  crimes  of  the  greatest  and  highest  in  the  State 
remain  unchastised. 

We  turn  to  consider  the  various  attempts  that  have 
been  made  hitherto  to  establish  a  friendly  relation  be- 
tween the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  marriage.  Wholly 
irreconcilable  with  the  main  object  of  the  civil  marriage 


CIYIL  AND  ECCLESIASTICAL  MARRIAGE.        225 

as  instituted  by  the  Code  Napoleon,  is  the  arrangement 
proposed  by  Rome,  and  introduced  in  some  places  (rec- 
ommended also  by  M.  Thiersch,  junior),  of  causing  the 
civil  ceremony  to  take  place  after,  instead  of  before,  the 
ecclesiastical.  By  this  plan  the  obligatory  character  of 
the  religious  service,  which  it  was  the  object  of  the  State 
to  remove,  is  restored,  and  the  State  undertakes  duties 
without  possessing  rights.  The  same  defect  appears  in 
the  proposal  of  the  majority  of  the  Sardinian  Senate, 
that  the  civil  marriage  should  take  place  only  where  the 
parties  are  not  Catholics. 

With  respect  to  the  naturalization  of  the  civil  mar- 
riage in  Germany,  various  plans  have  been  proposed. 
Some  would  only  allow  the  civil  marriage  to  take  place 
in  case  of  necessity :  thus,  for  instance,  when  the 
Church  benediction  is  refused.  No  scheme  can  be  more 
unworthy  and  more  ineffectual.  If  the  State  recognizes 
the  civil  marriage  as  legally  justifiable  only  in  case  of 
necessity,  it  degrades  its  own  act;  while  the  Church 
has,  notwithstanding,  right  to  complain  of  an  infringe- 
ment on  her  province.  In  Baden,  where  the  Code  Na- 
poleon is  the  law  of  the  land  in  civil  matters,  the  civil 
magistrates  do  no  more  toward  the  marriage-contract 
than  to  set  forth  a  document,  notifying  that  there  is  no 
longer  any  impediment  to  the  marriage.  This  is  to  de- 
grade the  act  of  the  State  to  a  permit  from  the  police. 
Neither  can  I  regard  it  as  expedient  that  in  Baden  the 
clergyman  represents  at  the  same  time  the  civil  func- 
tionary, by  reading  the  articles  concerning  marriage  to 
the  bridal  couple  in  the  vestry.  In  the  Church  the 
clergyman  should  know  no  code  but  the  Bible — no  moral 
precepts  but  those  of  religion  ;  he  is  not  the  mouthpiece 
of  the  law,  but  of  conscience.  And  this  practice  is  very 
generally  felt  as  a  grievance.     How,  then,  is  it  to  be  a<;- 

10* 


226  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

counted  for  that  even  so  circumspect  and  intelligent  a 
judge  as  the  author  of  an  instructive  disquisition  "  On 
Civil  Marriage  in  its  relation  to  the  Church"  (inserted 
in  Cottars  Vierteljahrschrift  for  1850)  should  yield  to 
the  prejudice  that  the  introduction  of  civil  marriage 
would  wound  the  religious  feeling,  more  especially  of  the 
Protestant  population  ?  Evidently  the  main  cause  is, 
that  he  has  no  faith  in  the  Ecdesia,  which  has  here 
become  invisible  against  its  will.  He  constantly  sees 
nothing  beyond  the  political  machine  of  police  and  offi- 
cials, with  that  dependent  institution  which  it  calls  "the 
Church."  From  this  point  of  view  he  is  perfectly  right, 
when  he  says  that  the  practice,  retained  for  instance  in 
Wurtemberg,  of  consulting  the  ecclesiastical  dignitaries 
in  all  proceedings  relating  to  marriage,  has  proved  itself 
wholly  inefficient. 

The  annihilation  of  the  idea  of  the  Congregation  is 
altogether  the  weak  point  in  the  marriage-law  of  the 
Code  Napoleon.  The  Maire,  who  answers  to  our  vil- 
lage magistrate  or  burgomaster,  is,  in  most  cases,  no 
worthy  representative  of  the  majesty  of  the  civil  com- 
monwealth, which  we  call  the  State.  The  sacredness 
of  the  Church  is,  with  regard  to  such  a  ceremony,  repre- 
sented by  the  meanest  of  her  ministers,  but  the  majesty 
of  the  State  is  not  by  its  lower  functionaries.  The 
reading  of  the  admonition  prescribed  by  law,  is  in  itself 
a  solemn  ceremony,  considered  as  the  voice  of  the  State, 
which,  by  this  act,  places  itself  in  subordination  to  the 
Divine  law.  It  recognizes  thereby  that  it  has  found 
marriage  existing,  and  derives  its  own  being  therefrom  ; 
and  its  exhortation  to  the  parties  to  consider,  with  due 
gravity,  the  importance  of  the  step  they  are  about  to 
take,  is  its  homage  to  the  law  of  God,  standing  above  all 
human  regulations,  which  has  its  seat  in  the  conscience, 


MIXED   MARRIA^aES.  227 

and  to  the  eternal  moral  order  of  the  universe,  of  which 
conscience  is  the  revelation.  But  it  is,  at  the  same  time, 
a  recognition  of  the  Christian  Congregation.  Thus, 
among  the  English  Anglo-Saxons,  the  porch  of  the  house 
consecrated  to  the  spiritual  use  of  the  congregation,  was 
chosen  for  the  solemn  celebration  of  betrothals  (called  in 
North  Germany  Winkop — Weibkauf^).  That  mag- 
nificent and  Unique  formula  of  the  marriage  vow,  which 
now  forms  a  part  of  the  English  Church  Service,  is  of 
indigenous  origin,  and  derived  from  Germany  ;  Tacitus 
knew  it,  and  mentions  it  with  admiration. f  It  would  be 
well,  therefore,  if  the  civil  marriage  were  only  allowed 
to"  take  place  in  the  more  considerable  towns,  while  the 
magistrates  or  burgomasters  of  the  village  to  which  the 
parties  belong,  with  other  representatives  of  the  peas- 
antry or  citizens,  should  also  be  present  as  witnesses. 
No  one  would  object  to  the  trouble  or  expense  of  such  a 
bridal  procession. 

With  respect  to  mixed  marriages^  what  was  more  es- 
pecially understood  by  this  term  in  the  good  old  days  of 
Lutheranism,  was  the  marriage  with  members  of  the  Re- 
formed Chuch.  In  one  of  the  recent  numbers  of  the 
Darmstadt  Allgemeine  Kirchenzeitung  (7th  July),  a 
worthy  man  expresses  his  horror  at  the  exploded  fanat- 
icsm  of  a  Lutheran  pastor  in  Bavaria,  who,  glorying  in 
his  narrow-mindedness  and  priestly  self-conceit,  has 
(evidently  with  a  side  glance  to  the  present)  picked  out 

*  The  purchase  of  a  wife. 

t  Tacit.  G-erm  xviii.  "Ne  se  mulier  extra  virtutum  cogita- 
tiones  extraque  bellorum  casus  putet,  ipsis  incipientis  matrunonii 
auspiciis  admonetur,  venire  se  laborum,  periculommque  socius, 
idem  in  pace,  idem  in  proelio  passuram  ausuramque,  hoc  juncti 
boves,  hoc  paratus  equus,  hoc  data  arma  denuntiant.  Sic  viven- 
dnm  sic  pereundum :  accipere  se,  quae  liberis  inviolata  ac  digna 
reddat,  quae  nurus  accipiant,  rurusque  ad  nepotes  referant," 


228  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

of  the  dust  of  the  Church  Archives,  "  as  a  flower  of  the 
Church,"  the  account  of  the  conversion  of  a  Calvinistic 
lady  of  the  seventeenth  century,  in  which  she  submits  to 
adopt  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  the  sacrament,  and  there- 
upon becomes  the  wife  of  the  Lutheran  pastor  who  writes 
the  account.  The  writer  of  the  article  might  find  a  pas- 
sage in  Carpzovius,  which  runs  thus :  ' '  The  marriage 
[of  an  orthodox  Lutheran]  with  a  Catholic  is  not  indeed 
attended  with  the  disgrace  which  attaches  to  the  mar- 
riage with  a  Calvinist,  still  it  must  always  be  regarded 
as  a  subject  of  regret  and  disapprobation."  This  was 
written  in  the  time  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  !  And 
such  miserable  stuff  does  the  ill-advised  priestly  party 
rake  up  from  the  ashes  of  the  past  to  rekindle  evangeli- 
cal faith,  or  rather  confessional  bigotry  ! 

We  term  mixed  marriages  those  between  Protestants 
and  Catholics.  With  regard  to  these,  it  is  universally 
acknowledged  that  the  participation  of  the  State,  to  a 
certain  extent,  is  indispensable  as  a  defense  against 
hierarchical  oppression,  and  for  the  sake  of  domestic 
peace.  The  regulations  contained  in  the  Prussian  laws 
on  this  subject,  appear  to  correspond  the  most  closely  to 
the  dictates  of  reason  and  justice.  They  may  be  re- 
duced to  two  points:  No  constraint  shall  be  exercised 
either  by  the  State  or  the  clergy ;  the  father  and  mother 
alone  shall  decide :  Compacts  between  parties  betrothed 
to  each  other  can  not  be  made  the  ground  of  complaint 
against  the  father,  who  is  regarded  as  the  head  of  the 
fiimily. 

Thus  the  State  does  not  require  the  Catholic  clergy- 
man to  perform  an  act  which  he  is  forbidden  to  do  by 
the  laws  of  his  Church ;  but  it  forbids  him  to  commit  an 
offense  against  the  laws,  by  demanding  any  promise  from 
the  bridal  couple  with  regard  to  the  children  that  may 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION.  229 

be  born  to  them.  The  remaining  difficulties  will  disap- 
pear on  the  introduction  of  the  civil  marriage,  but  only 
thereby. 

With  regard  to  the  marriage  between  Christians  and 
Jews  the  most  advisable  course  appears  to  me  to  consist 
in  the  application  of  a  just  and  wise  maxim  of  the  Prus- 
sian Code.  The  maxim  is  as  follows:  "A  Christian 
can  not  contract  marriage  with  such  persons  as  are  pre- 
vented by  the  precepts  of  their  religion  from  submitting 
themselves  to  the  Christian  laws  of  marriage."  This 
maxim,  however,  clearly  justifies  the  prohibition  of  mar- 
riages between  Christians  and  Jews,  which  it  has  estab- 
lished in  practice,  only  in  so  far  as  the  Jewish  community 
in  the  State  abides  by  all  the  Talmudic  regulations,  and 
the  parties  are  unwilling  to  receive  the  Christian  bene- 
diction which  is  required  by  the  existing  law. 

With  regard  to  the  second  point  in  dispute  between 
the  State  and  the  hierarchy,  namely,  the  education  op 
THE  PEOPLE,  this  is  the  most  sacred  Right,  and  still 
more,  the  most  sacred  Duty  of  the  State.  But  on  this 
question  various  systems  are  conceivable.  Positive  re- 
ligious instruction  may  be  excluded  from  the  public 
primary  schools,  and  regarded  as  the  province  of  the 
ministers  of  religion  belonging  to  the  various  confessions, 
as  is  the  case  in  most  States  of  the  American  Union, 
though  a  selection  from  Holy  Scripture  is  usually  re- 
tained. Or  religious  teaching  may  form  a  part  of  the 
course  of  popular  instruction,  but  it  may  be  so  arranged 
that  the  minority  is  not  compelled  to  take  part  in  it,  as 
is  the  course  pursued  in  the  primary  schools  in  Prussia. 
In  our  gymnasia,  the  masters  nearly  always  belong  to 
one  confession.  Or,  finally,  the  different  persuasions 
may  have  separate  educational  institutions  maintained  at 
the  expense  of  the  State,  or  of  the  particular  religious 


230  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

body.  None  of  these  forms  is  absolutely  inadmissible ; 
which  is  the  best,  is  a  question  which  must  be  answered 
variously  in  different  States,  and  even  in  different  prov- 
inces of  the  same  State. 

But  no  form  is  admissible  which  does  not  hold  fast 
one  thing,  namely,  that  liberty  of  conscience  be  not  in- 
fringed, both  for  the  sake  of  conscience  itself,  and  as  rep- 
resenting one  of  the  true  guranties  for  the  Christianity 
of  the  State.  The  reproach  still  often  made  against  the 
first  of  these  systems,  according  to  which  the  religious 
instruction  is  left  in  the  hands  of  the  special  teachers  of 
religion — that  it  is  a  godless  system — is  equally  unjust 
in  itself,  and  unconfirmed  by  fact.  That  such  a  sever- 
ance between  religious  and  secular  instruction  must  ever 
be  carried  out  with  the  most  tender  and  judicious  con- 
sideration for  the  existing  religious  sentiments  of  the 
people,  and  with  sincere  moral  earnestness,  follows  of 
necessity  from  the  fundamental  principles  we  have  al- 
ready laid  down. 

All  this,  my  respected  friend,  we  will  sum  up  in  one 
word — yes,  faith  in  God,  in  Christ,  and  in  Man. 

Of  course,  to  follow  out  our  fundamental  maxim  of 
liberty,  in  addition  to  the  schools  provided  by  the  State, 
the  existing  religious  denominations  ought  to  have  the 
full  and  unrestricted  right  of  establishing  special  re- 
ligious schools,  at  their  own  expense,  for  the  children  of 
their  members.  But  the  State  ought  to  do  every  thing 
in  its  power  that  its  own  schools  should  be  the  best. 
That  at  this  moment  educated  Protestants  in  the  United 
States  are  sending  their  children  to  the  Jesuit  schools, 
which  send  out  4,000  young  peqple  annually,  arises 
from  the  fact  that  the  State  has  not  done  its  duty  be- 
yond the  sphere  of  elementary  instruction.  Boston 
alone,  with  its  university  of  New  Cambridge,  makes  an 


CATHOLICS  IN  AMERICA.  231 

honorable  exception.  The  once  famous  Columbia  Col- 
lege is  in  decaj.  With  the  present  rekindling  of  na- 
tional feeling  (originally  directed  against  the  offscouring 
of  Europe,  and  especially  the  barbarism  of  the  Irish  im- 
migrants), in  which  the  Know-nothing  movement  has  its 
roots,  no  doubt  this  weak  side  of  the  national  develop- 
ment, which  is  so  admirable  in  other  respects,  will  not 
remain  unremedied.  The  allurements  to  forsake  the 
self-sacrificing  service  of  science,  and  the  still  more  self- 
denying  vocation  of  an  instructor,  are  in  that  Empire 
more  numerous  and  powerful  than  anywhere  else.  But, 
hitherto,  thanks  to  the  moral  and  religious  earnestness 
of  the  Puritans,  which  is  the  healthiest  and  most  vigor- 
ous root  of  that  gigantic  State,  there  has  never  yet  been 
wanting  a  corresponding  moral  energy  to  remedy  any 
recognized  deficiency  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  social 
conditions  of  America  present  peculiar  advantages.  But 
this  much  is  certain,  that  against  a  centralized  power, 
such  as  that  of  the  Jesuits,  neither  the  isolated  efibrts 
of  individuals  can  succeed,  nor  yet  such  State  schools  as 
entirely  exclude  religious  instruction.  The  demand  of 
the  Catholic  bishops  in  the  Union,  more  especially  urged 
by  Bishop  Hughes  in  New  York,  that  the  State  should 
surrender  a  proportionate  part  of  the  revenues  for  na- 
tional education  to  the  bishops,  or  Jesuits,  for  their 
Catholic  schools,  was  unreasonable,  and  it  is  this  which 
has  given  the  political  faction  of  the  Know-nothings  its 
present  aggressive  tendency. 

Now,  where  the  State  and  the  Church  are  not  entirely 
separated,  it  is  impossible  to  deny  the  State  a  right  of 
superintendence  over  all  private  schools,  or  to  dispense 
with  the  exercise  of  this  right,  seeing  that  it  has  to  pre- 
scribe a  certain  standard  of  education  which  must  be 
reached  in  every  such  private  institution.     The  State 


232  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

must,  therefore,  test  the  abilities  of  the  teachers,  and  be 
represented  in  the  examination  of  the  pupils. 

As  regards  the  education  of  the  clergy,  there  are 
three  rules  which  have  approved  themselves  in  practice 
as  the  most  just  and  effectual. 

I.  That  the  State  should  refrain  from  taking  any  part 
in  the  purely  spiritual  training  of  priests. 

II.  That  it  should  not  suffer  this  to  commence  until 
after  a  preliminary  national  training  has  been  passed 
through  in  the  gymnasmm  and  at  the  university. 

III.  That  at  the  universities  the  State  should  not 
allow  the  Bishops  to  appoint  the  theological  professors, 
but  should  give  them  a  veto  on  a  statement  of  their 
reasons. 

On  this  point,  too,  Prussia  has  taken  the  lead  of  all 
other  States  in  wisdom  and  fairness. 

From  the  ground  we  take  of  entire  liberty  of  con- 
science, and  real  independence  both  of  the  State  and  the 
congregation,  we  can  regard  no  other  attitude  as  fitting 
— no  other  solution  of  the  problem  presented  as  true. 

We  now  come  to  the  last,  and  also  the  sorest  of  the 
contested  points.  The  question  of  the  tenure  and 
ENJOYMENT  OF  Church  PROPERTY  meets  US  throughout 
history  as  the  most  fraught  with  danger  of  all  those  in- 
volved in  the  conflict  between  the  officials  of  the  State 
and  the  priesthood.  But  even  this  offers  no  insuperable 
difficulties  if  the  principles  of  perfect  liberty  and  legality 
which  we  have  indicated  be  honestly  and  rigidly  carried 
out,  under  the  guidance  of  existing  circumstances.  I 
believe  I  may  here  lay  down  the  maxim  as  universally 
admitted  by  all  jurisconsults,  that  Church  property  is 
sacred,  but  not,  like  private  property,  irrespective  of  the 
use  made  of  it.  The  possessor  for  the  time  being  has  no 
right  of  disposal  over  it :  he  has  simply  the  usufruct, 


CHURCH  PROPERTY.  233 

and  that  only  under  certain  conditions,  ^nd  for  a  public 
end.  If  that  end  be  not  answered — those  conditions  not 
observed — the  State  has  not  only  the  right  but  the  ohli- 
gation  to  take  away  the  property  from  the  possessor  or 
corporation  ;  still,  so  far  as  possible,  only  for  the  better 
attainment  of  the  same  end,  not  for  the  enriching  of  the 
public  treasury. 

This  is  what,  on  the  whole,  really  took  place  at  the 
Reformation,  as  far  as  the  rapacity  of  princes  or  aristo- 
cratic corporations  allowed,  and  only  on  such  and  similar 
appropriations  of  ecclesiastical  revenue  has  the  blessing 
of  God  rested.  Naturally  such  a  course  could  not  be 
strictly  adhered  to  where,  as  happened  shortly  before 
the  dissolution  of  the  German  empire,  regulations  were 
made  affecting  provinces  and  States  which  had  belonged 
to  ecclesiastical  rulers.  In  modern  times,  England,  and 
recently  also  Sardinia,  are  those  States  which  have 
treated  this  question  most  honestly  and  generously.  In 
the  retrenchment  of  the  capitular  bodies  in  England, 
and  the  reduction  of  the  incomes  of  those  retained,  every 
penny  has  been  devoted  to  the  augmentation  of  parochial 
stipends,  the  miserable  condition  of  which  formed  a  dis- 
graceful contrast  to  the  princely  revenues  of  certain  dig- 
nitaries. So,  likewise,  Sardinia,  in  abolishing  those 
monasteries  and  convents  which  did  not  devote  them- 
selves to  education  or  works  of  mercy,  has  most  solemnly 
established  the  principle,  that  the  money  thus  saved 
shall  be  expended  for  the  benefit  of  the  clergy,  for  whom 
no  adequate  provision  had  been  made.  With  regard  to 
the  whole  proceedings  of  the  Sardinian  Government,  I 
refer  you  to  the  exhaustive  article  on  this  subject  in  the 
Quarterly  Review  for  July,  which  is  attributed,  no 
doubt  with  justice,  to  Mr.  Gladstone. 

The  main  question,  however,  to  be  settled  in  coming 


234  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

to  terms  with  the  canon  law,  is  the  attitude  which  the 
State  ought  to  assume  toward  the  pretension  of  the 
Ultramontane  party — that  the  One  Universal  Church  is 
the  depositary  of  all  ecclesiastical  revenues.  For,  as 
we  have  seen  above,  this  is,  in  other  words,  to  recognize 
the  Bishops  and  the  Pope  as  the  possessors  of  all  national 
church  property.  Ecclesiastical  history  proves  that  that 
pretension  has  been  turned  to  advantage  more  than  once, 
especially  on  the  part  of  the  Pope.  Now  we  maintain 
that  the  Congregation  is  the  universal  ultimate,  as  well 
as  immediate,  depositary  of  church  property.  Our 
mode  of  settling  the  matters  in  dispute  would  be  deter- 
mined more  precisely  according  to  the  peculiar  nature 
of  the  property  itself. 

As  regards  Local  Funds,  neither  the  State  nor  the 
Church,  in  the  wide  sense  of  these  words,  can  be  said  to 
be  the  depositary  thereof,  but  the  local  Congregation ; 
therefore,  neither  the  Pope  nor  the  Bishop,  nor  yet  the 
parish  priest  by  himself,  but  the  elders  of  the  Church 
recognized  under  various  forms  by  the  Catholic  Church 
(churchwardens),  with  the  minister  of  the  parish,  for 
the  time  being,  at  their  head. 

I  believe,  with  Wessenbrg,  these  associations  of  elders 
must  be  put  upon  a  better  footing,  else  that  it  would  be 
necessary  to  return  to  a  Catholic  Committee  of  the  Con- 
gregation, which,  according  to  the  law  of  Prussia,  is 
only  the  heir  of  the  civil  community,  but  according  to 
that  of  France,  is  the  actual  possessor,  except  in  the  case 
of  particular  foundations  and  corporations. 

The  next  question  arises  where  the  Revenues  are 
derived  from  a  Grant  of  the  State.  According  to  our 
principles,  we  shall  here  have  to  distinguish  whether  this 
grant  is  a  free  gift,  or  by  common  acknowledgment  a 
compensation  for  estates  or  dues  that  have  been  lost.     In 


CHURCH  PROPERTY.  235 

the  second  case  the  Congregation  evidently  enters  into 
possession  of  its  own  rights ;  but  the  former  may  lay 
the  foundation  for  a  relation  of  superintendence  and 
patronage  on  the  part  of  the  State.  The  fiscal  principle 
in  its  absolute  form  is  as  inadmissible  and  works  as  badly 
as  the  hierarchical. 

Finally,  as  regards  the  third  portion  of  Church  prop- 
erty, the  Property  or  Revenues  of  the  Bishops^  their 
Chapters  and  Seminaries^  it  is  manifest  that  the  forms 
of  actual  possession  and  enjoyment,  or  of  a  full  mortgage 
security  on  landed  property,  are  not  reconcilable  with 
the  present  state  of  political  economy.  Eor  this  reason, 
too,  the  proposal  which  has  been  made  in  the  Prussian 
Concordat  to  grant  a  mortgage  security  on  forests  (which, 
moreover,  are  charged  with  the  yet  unredeemed  state- 
debt),  will  probably  never  be  carried  into  literal  execu- 
tion. But  the  form  of  a  security  on  the  aggregate  prop- 
erty of  the  State — a  plan  proposed  by  Napoleon,  and 
accepted  by  the  Pope  on  the  part  of  the  Church — that 
is  to  say,  the  entry  of  a  perpetual  annuity  in  the  public 
accounts,  is  one  which  is  for  all  purposes  satisfactory,  at 
least  for  States  which  have  a  well-ordered  financial  sys- 
tem, as  Prussia  always  has  had,  and  always  will  have. 

In  regard  to  the  possession  of  landed  property,  all 
modern  systems  of  public  law  agree  in  not  allowing  the 
validity  of  testamentary  dispositions  in  mortmain.  Even 
money  legacies  in  favor  of  the  Church  are  made  depend- 
ent on  the  observance  of  certain  conditions. 

On  this  point,  again,  the  spirit  and  usages  of  consti- 
tutional monarchy  have  proved  a  truer  guide  than  Napo- 
leonic Csesarism  or  the  absolutism  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  right  of  confirming  such  bequests  is, 
particularly  with  Protestant  Governments,  a  dead  letter. 
Here,  too,  Peel  struck  out  the  right  path,  when,  care- 


236  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

fully  avoiding  every  thing  savoring  of  arbitrariness,  he 
restricted  himself  to  laying  down  the  principle  that 
every  such  bequest  is  valid,  if  made  six  months  or  more 
before  death,  the  deed  being,  of  course,  drawn  up  by  a 
notary,  and  signed  in  the  presence  of  witnesses.  No 
one  can  complain  of  this  with  any  show  of  reason,  and 
thus  the  object  is  attained. 

Thus,  my  respected  friend,  I  think  that  in  proceeding 
from  our  starting-point  we  have  reached  a  solution  which 
violates  no  ecclesiastical  or  religious  feeling,  disturbs  no 
usage,  raises  no  points  of  contest,  presents  no  practical 
dangers,  but,  on  the  contrary,  appears  to  open  the  way 
to  a  result  as  safe  and  pregnant  with  blessing  as  it  is 
inevitable.  It  is  true  that  in  pursuing  our  course  we 
have  found  that  with  regard  to  these  questions,  as  well 
as  that  of  toleration,  Germany  does  not  in  all  respects 
stand  at  the  head  of  European  culture  and  civilization, 
but  has  sometimes  lagged  behind  within  the  last  forty 
years.  For  even  from  1550  onward,  and  to  a  still 
greater  extent  since  1650,  a  stagnation,  if  not  a  corrup- 
tion, partly  caused  by  the  pettiness  of  the  political  re- 
lations in  such  a  congeries  of  small  States,  but  most  of 
all  by  the  narrow-mindedness  of  the  Lutheran  theolo- 
gians who  have  ruled  the  Church,  has  crept  in,  accom- 
panied by  a  self-conceit  which  appears  ridiculous  or 
lamentable,  when  it  brings  its  pretensions  to  the  broad 
daylight  of  publicity.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the 
Reformed  Church  of  Germany,  which  takes  a  very  dif- 
ferent historical  attitude,  and  in  the  reforming  zeal  of 
enlightened  Governments  we  have  everywhere  found 
still  fertile  germs  of  life,  which,  with  the  inexhaustible 
mental  power,  and  the  indestructible  religious  sentiment 
that  pervades  the  German  people,  present  the  fairest 
pledges  for  our  future^ 


THE  SAPEGUARD  OF  THE  CHURCH.  237 

Finally,  in  what  specially  concerns  us  as  Prussians, 
much  as  we  may  have  to  find  fault  with  or  mourn  the 
want  of,  many  as  may  be  the  fears  and  anxieties  openly 
expressed  or  secretly  cherished,  we  can  look  with  thank- 
fulness to  the  past,  the  present,  and  the  future. 

The  Magna  Charta  of  our  laws  touching  religious  and 
ecclesiastical  relations,  as  contained  in  Articles  XII.— 
XIX.  of  the  Constitution,^  is  perfectly  satisfactory ;  and 
its  meaning  is  placed  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt  by 
the  official  documents  which  accompany  it,  and  the  de- 
liberations in  which  it  originated.  Our  best  guaranty 
that  this  Palladium  will  not  be  shaken  or  wrested  aside 
from  its  true  meaning,  is  the  loyal  respect  for  law  of 
our  King,  and  the  sentiments  of  the  heirs  to  the  throne, 
as  well  as  of  the  nation  at  large.  Neither  should  it  be 
forgotten  how  many  safeguards  and  institutions  Prussia 
posessed  before  the  18th  of  March,  1848.  This  ground- 
work of  law  certainly  needs,  however,  to  be  fortified  by 
a  corresponding  practical  realization.  According  to 
what  principles  this  might  be  done  as  respects  the  Evan- 
gelical Church,  in  order  to  conduct  it  onward  from  the 
present  regal  dictatorship  to  constitutional  independence, 
and  how,  on  the  other  side,  the  collisions  with  the  Rom- 
ish hierarchy  not  yet  wholly  guarded  against  are  to 
be  prevented,  we  have  endeavored  to  discover  by  a 
method  which  can  hardly  be  misrepresented  as  a  false 
one,  ever  keeping  in  view  our  ultimate  aim — a  peace- 
able and  legal  adjustment  of  all  difierences. 

The  theological  conflict  between  various  religious  con- 
fessions may  be  safely  left  to  the  influence  of  learning, 
faith,  and  outward  events.  The  alienation  between  those 
of  different  creeds  ceases  when  they  no  longer  come  into 

*  Our  appendix  to  this  letter  will  place  these  articles  before 
the  eyes  of  those  who  may  not  know,  or  may  not  recollect  them. 


288  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

painful  collision,  and,  under  good  management,  without 
issuing  in  skeptical  indifference.  The  attachment  to  the 
State  will  become  universal  on  the  ground  of  equal 
rights,  and  as  a  result  of  the  peaceful  co-operation  of 
all  for  noble  objects.  Increasing  prosperrity,  science, 
and  art^  exert  a  humanizing  influence  upon  manners 
also  in  this  field,  while  at  the  same  time  deepening  the 
sentiment  of  nationality ;  and  each  confession  feels  it- 
self honored  in  the  respect  which  it  pays  to  the  con- 
science of  others.  Such  a  State,  is  truly  a  Christian 
State,  for  it  is  founded  upon  Christian  love,  and  upon 
reverence  for  the  Divine  justice. 

He  who  should  set  himself  against  such  a  reconcilia- 
tion would  thereby  betray  that  he  did  not  thoroughly 
believe  his  creed  to  be  the  true  one ;  for  truth  has  noth- 
ing to  lose  or  to  fear  from  freedom.  Man  is  no  godless 
animal,  as  the  Prince  de  Broglie  appears  to  assume  in 
his  critique  on  Dupin^s  Canon  Law^  when  he  gives 
vent  to  the  apprehension  that  religious  congregations 
may  all  at  once  be  turned  into  revolutionary  clubs.  The 
State  has  the  right  of  recognition,  and  consequently  of 
prohibition,  in  the  case  of  fraudulent  and  immortal  sects, 
such  as  that  of  the  Mormons ;  revolutionary  Christian 
factions  there  have  never  yet  been ;  and  the  mask  of  the 
hypocrites  falls  off  as  soon  as  political  liberty  exists. 
We  need  point  only  to  Ronge  and  Doviat !  And  when, 
in  the  ''Free  Church"  in  Magdeburg,  Uhlich's  col- 
league, Krause,  urged  that  this  Church  should  not  even 
call  itself  ''  Christian,"  because  this  term  implied  a  limi- 
tation oppressive  to  the  ftee  Congregation  and  unworthy 
of  the  position  they  took  up,  he  thereby  simply  acknowl- 
edged the  justice  of  the  ordinance  which  refuses  to  rec- 
ognize such  associations  as  religious,  but  subjects  them 
to  inspection  as  political. 


TENDEiJCIBS  IN  THE  GERMAN   CHURCH.       239 

Only  let  the  liberty  be  universal  without  exception  : 
no  toleration,  no  old-fashioned  "parity"  in  the  State, 
where  only  two  confessions  are  authorized,  the  Catholic 
and  the  Protestant,  and  the  latter  sometimes  only  in 
the  double  aspect  it  has  been  compelled  to  assume. 
That  in  Bavaria  the  Government  will  only  allow  the 
Protestants  to  be  called  a  religious  association,  and 
not  a  Church,  is  certainly  the  result  of  no  friendly 
spirit,  but  we  may  as  well  resign  this  appellation  to 
the  Roman  Catholic  denomination  as  that  of  "  the 
Catholics." 

It  will  certainly  be  necessary  on  all  sides  to  over- 
come much  egotism,  not  only  in  its  worst  forms  of  prej- 
udice and  hatred,  but  also  in  the  little-mindedness  and 
separatism  peculiar  to  the  Germans  of  the  last  two 
centuries.  One  can  not  endure  the  Baptists  because 
they  make  converts ;  another  the  Jews,  because  they 
practice  usury,  like  many  Christians,  or  because  some 
of  their  forefathers  crucij&ed  Jesus,  and  called  down  a 
curse  on  themselves  and  on  their  children,  which 
clearly  must  be  realized  by  Christian  oppression  of 
their  descendants.  All  such  arguments  are  nothing 
but  a  cloak  for  egotism,  or  a  deficiency  in  humanizing 
culture. 

I  live  in  the  firm  conviction  that  throughout  our  com- 
mon German  fatherland  the  overwhelming  majority  both 
of  Catholics  and  Protestants  are  quite  of  one  mind  as  to 
the  principle  of  freedom  of  conscience ;  and  that  with 
open  and  dispassionate  discussion  their  pet  exceptions  to 
this  principle  would  vanish  like  mist  before  the  sun. 
But  evidently  it  is  pre-eminently  the  vocation  of  Protest- 
ant Governments,  statesmen,  and  public  instructors — 
therefore,  also,  of  the  leading  men  of  the  free  German 
literature — to  protect  and  cherish  this  principle.     They 


240  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

themselves  stand  and  fall  with  the  Congregation  and 
with  liberty.  It  is  not  a  question  of  bringing  the  Con- 
gregation into  existence — it  is  there,  indigenous  and 
vigorous,  not  merely  capable  of  life ;  nay,  since  1848 — 
as.  indeed,  from  1840  up  to  that  date — a  wonderful 
impulse  of  life  has  filled  it  with  aspiration  and  fresh 
thought.  A  tendency  toward  outward  embodiment  and 
organized  activity  is  astir  in  our  German  churches, 
which  bears  in  itself  the  evident  impress  of  the  Divine 
hand;  for  it  manifests  itself  as  that  ministering  love 
which  is  the  parent  of  all  works  of  mercy.  It  lives  and 
breathes  as  an  aflfectionate  recognition  of  the  beauty,  the 
truth,  and  the  goodness  that  have  existed  in  past  ages, 
not  only  within  the  limits  of  their  own  respective  homes, 
but  of  the  whole  of  their  beloved  German  fatherland, 
nay,  of  all  humanity.  This  sentiment  shows  itself  self- 
sacrificing,  not  demanding  sacrifice ;  but  it  does  demand 
freedom  for  its  highest  impulse,  respect  for  its.  most 
sacred  possession.  It  will  not  endure  the  fetters  of 
police-regulation;  it  despises  the  crutches  of  official 
tutelage  and  the  protection  of  the  penal  laws  which  have 
crippled  it,  no  less  than  a  so-called  patriarchal  super- 
intendence of  the  Crown.  Not  to  repress  this  aspiration 
in  the  Christian  community,  but  to  aid  it  by  support, 
enlightenment,  exhortation — this  is  the  special  vocation 
of  Protestantism.  All  the  aids  that  Protestantism  would 
borrow  from  constraint,  force,  repression,  intolerance, 
are  so  many  weapons  which  it  puts  into  the  hand  of  the 
hierarchy  for  the  persecution  of  the  evangelical  belief. 
He  who  can  not  fulfill  this  vocation  in  faith  is  not  called 
to  put  his  hand  to  the  work  of  salvation. 

This  Protestant  consciousness  has  been  never  more 
deeply  felt  than  within  the  last  few  years  and  days. 
What  astonishment,  what  sorrow,  then,  must  seize  the 


RETROGRADE   EFFORTS.  241 

friend  of  the  Grospel,  of  his  country,  of  freedom,  of 
humanity,  when  he  sees  no  insignificant  number,  espec- 
ially of  the  younger  Lutheran  pastors  and  preachers,  in 
co-operation  with  political  parties,  and  in  more  or  less 
open  alliance  with  absolutism  and  feudalism  (or  at  least 
playing  into  the  hands  of  the  absolutists  and  Jesuits), 
striking  out  for  themselves  a  precisely  opposite  course ! 
Do  they  really  think  to  benefit  Protestantism  by  coercion, 
or  dream  of  restoring  faith  by  the  spirit-killing  formulas 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  while  crying  down  all  as- 
piration toward  tolerance  and  freedom  as  revolutionary 
and  anarchical  ?  I  forbear  to  mention  insignificant  at- 
tempts of  this  kind,  or  childish,  stupid,  senseless  attacks, 
such  as  those  we  have  witnessed  in  Mecklenburg,  Hesse, 
and  Lippe.  I  pass  over  impotent  conferences  or  unions 
of  pastors,  such  as  that  held  recently  in  Leipsic  under 
Kahne's  leadership,  where  furious  speeches  were  made 
against  schismatics  and  sectaries  on  the  part  of  the  self- 
styled  Old  Lutherans. 

Their  retrograde  efforts  are  not  backed  by  Congrega- 
tion or  people — by  intellectual,  or,  hitherto,  by  civil  or 
princely  power.  The  phenomenon  is  simply  instructive. 
But  it  is  with  pain  that  I  see  in  the  ranks  of  this  party 
a  man  from  whom  I  and  others  had  hoped  better  things 
in  his  youth,  but  who  has  now  become  the  acknowledged 
organ  of  the  powerful  retrograde  party  in  politics  and 
religion.  It  is  a  just  subject  of  unmitigated  regret, 
when  such  a  man  becomes  the  advocate  of  intolerance 
and  illiberality  in  the  greatest  Protestant  State  of  the 
Continent — the  only  considerable  Protestant  State  of 
Germany ;  and  that  in  the  name  of  tolerance — in  the 
name  of  Luther  and  of  Christ ! 

I  allude,  my  respected  friend,  to  the  oration  of  Stahl 
already  mentioned,  which  he  pronounced  on  the  29th  of 
11 


242  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

last  March,  in  the  Evangelical  Association  of  Berlin, 
before  the  Court  and  a  large  and  influential  assembly, 
not  without  immediate  evidence  of  its  efiect.  This  dis- 
course, which  bears  the  title  of  "  Christian  Tolerance," 
but  which,  in  reality,  appears  more  like  a  discourse  in 
favor  of  confessional  intolerance,  has  been  printed  by  its 
eloquent  author  with  notes,  for  the  general  reading  world, 
after  it  had  appeared  with  the  same  additions  in  the  relig- 
ious organ  of  the  party,  the  Evangelische  Kirchen- 
zeiiung^  and  been  printed  in  their  political  organ,  the 
Kreugzeitung. 

With  the  examination  of  this  discourse  for  the  object 
we  have  in  view,  I  propose  to  conclude  our  correspond- 
ence for  the  present. 


LETTER    IX. 

OBSERVATIONS  ON  STAHL'S  DOCTRINE  OF  TOLERANCE, 
AS  REGARDED  FROM  AN  HISTORICAL  AND  JURI- 
DICAL  POINT   OF   VIEW. 

Charlottenberg,  24th  August,  1855. 
The  Day  of  St.  Bartholomew. 

This  is  a  solemn  day,  my  dear  and  honored  friend, 
on  which  we  are  called  to  consider  Stahl's  doctrine  of 
tolerance.  It  is  the  anniversary  of  the  Massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew — the  infernal  festival  of  religious  persecu- 
tion— the  orgies  of  the  devils  I  For  whatever  share  in 
the  events  of  that  day  may  be  ascribed  to  the  hatred  of 
political  parties,  it  can  not  be  denied  that  these  parties 
themselves  took  their  source  in  religious  heirarchical 
fanaticism,  and  that  this  was  the  sole  lever  by  which 
they  acted  on  the  populace.  It  was  religious  hatred 
which,  as  Ranke  has  recently  shown,  gave  that  demon- 
iacal fury,  Catherine  de  Medicis,  the  means  of  attaining 
her  factious  aims.  It  was  religious  hatred  which  enabled 
the  king  whom  she  swayed,  to  find  willing  executioners 
in  the  brutal  mobs  of  Paris,  Lyons,  and  other  towns, 
stirred  up  by  the  priests.  In  Admiral  Coligni,  and 
many  of  his  clerical  and  secular  fellow-sufferers,  France 
lost  the  highest  ornaments  and  noblest  blood  of  the  land, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  the  strongest  moral  primitive- 
force  for  the  wider  development  of  her  mental  and  polit- 


244  SIGNS  OF  THE   TIMES. 

ical  freedom.  In  them,  Christendom  forfeited  a  large 
portion  of  her  brightest  jewels,  and  the  Christian  name 
was  branded  for  everlasting  ages,  till  a  full  atonement 
should  be  made. 

The  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  and  the  Inquisition 
are  the  final  expression  of  that  intolerance  whose  cause 
Stahl  appears  to  us  to  espouse,  and  whose  refutation,  as 
delivered  in  the  Constituent  Assembly  of  France  in 
1789,  when  perfect  liberty  of  conscience  was  decreed  as 
one  of  the  rights  of  man,  seems  to  inspire  our  orator 
with  boundless  contempt.  Nay,  he  inveighs  against 
philosophical  toleration  at  the  very  moment  when  the 
powers  of  darkness  are  once  more  rousing  themselves  and 
leaguing  together  against  their  own  brethren  in  belief 
For  Dr.  Stahl  begins  by  telling  us  that 

"  Toleration  is  the  child  of  unbelief;  the  demand  of  freedom 
of  conscience  as  a  right,  in  legally  governed  States  and  constitu- 
tional nations,  is  a  part  of  that  work  of  destruction  and  revolution 
which  characterizes  modern  science,  and  which  menaces  the  tran- 
quillity of  Europe." 

From  the  time  of  its  introduction  into  German  juris- 
prudence, up  to  the  present  day,  the  word  Toleration 
has  rather  had  a  mournful  than  a  joyful  sound ;  for  in 
its  juridical  sense  it  merely  signifies  that  the  Church 
authorized  by  the  State,  sufiers  others  besides  itself  to 
exist  in  the  land.  But,  in  the  general  language  of  lit- 
erature, the  sound  common  sense  of  all  European  nations 
understand  by  this  term,  the  not  unreasonable  demand, 
that  a  man  shall  not  be  persecuted  by  the  civil  magis- 
trate, or  by  a  dominant  Church,  if  he,  without  violating 
the  general  civil  regulations,  worships  God  after  his  own 
fashion  in  company  with  his  fellow-believers.  In  sub- 
stance, this  demand  is  clearly  not  much  unlike  that 
made  eleven  hundred  years  ago  by  Winfrid,  in  behalf  of 


ADVOCATES  OP  TOLERATION.  245 

his  somewhat  aggressive  style  of  preaching,  from  the  hea- 
then Frisians,  in  the*name  of  the  God  of  the  Christians 
whom  they  did  not  know. 

Not  even  so  far  removed,  but  differing  only  in  the 
slightest  degree  from  State  protection  instead  of  perse- 
cution, was  the  demand  made  by  Peter  Bayle,  when 
toward  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  he  was  stir- 
red up  by  the  persecutions  in  France  to  write  his  famous 
tract  On  Religious  Toleration.  We  may  take  an  utter- 
ly different  and  much  graver  view  of  the  Old  Testament 
and  its  history  than  Bayle  did.  But  when  in  that  book 
he  supports  his  arguments  drawn  from  reason  by  pas- 
sages from  the  Bible,  he  does  so  not  only  in  a  very  seri- 
ous spirit,  but  often,  I  must  confess,  with  a  much  better 
exegesis  of  the  Bible  than  we  find  in  many  theologians 
and  professors  of  ecclesiastical  jurisprudence  in  both 
ancient  and  modern  times.  Voltaire  made  the  same  de- 
mand as  Bayle,  when,  in  his  account  of  the  judicial 
murder  of  Galas  at  Toulouse,  he  exhibited,  with  equal 
courage,  eloquence,  and  love  of  truth,  the  dreadful  con- 
sequences of  religious  hatred  among  the  populace,  and 
its  influence  on  a  usually  honorable  court  of  justice. 
Undoubtedly,  Voltaire's  scoffs  at  religion,  and  defama- 
tion of  the  person  of  the  Divine  Founder  of  Christianity, 
are  as  repugnant  to  German  philosophy  as  to  the  whole 
tone  of  sentiment  in  our  nation.  But  every  candid  man 
ought  to  respect  and  honor  him  for  his  defense  of  Galas, 
which  required  more  courage  and  manliness  than  many 
an  unctuous  oration  in  our  days. 

Much  greater  earnestness  and  depth  were  certainly 
shown  in  {he  treatment  of  this  subject  by  our  great 
Lessing,  when  he  availed  himself  of  the  mediaeval  story 
of  the  Three  Rings,  in  order  to  exhibit,  in  his  "  Nathan 
the  Wise,"  the  unreasonableness  and  impiety  of  religi- 


246  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

ous  intolerance.  The  slurs  which  were  cast  on  him  and 
his  friends  by  Pastor  Gotze,  and  his  like,  may  have  had 
their  share  in  strengthening  his  abhorrence  of  the 
^'- Pfaffengeheisz^^  *  (to  use  Luther's  language),  to 
which,  as  much  as  to  the  Pope  and  Jesuits,  we  owe  the 
rending  asunder  of  the  Protestant  Church  in  Germany, 
and  all  the  misery  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  Still,  to 
place  him  among  the  scoflfers  at  religion  and  the  de- 
spisers  of  Christianity,  is  for  this  very  reason  a  crying 
injustice,  and  a  proof  of  pitiable  one-sidedness.  That 
to  Lessing,  personally,  Christianity  was  the  religion  of 
the  world,  and  the  Bible  the  sacred  record  of  the  divine 
plan  for  the  development  of  humanity,  he  has  declared 
clearly  enough  in  his  immortal  tract,  The  Education 
of  the  Human  Race.  And  now  let  us  turn  to  our 
more  strictly  speculative  philosophers.  Modern  history 
scarcely  presents  to  us  a  more  blameless  and  earnest 
moral  character  than  that  of  Kant,  and  no  one  will  deny 
that  his  deeply  moral  tone  of  thought  was  transmit- 
ted to  his  successors,  Fichte,  Schelling,  and  Hegel.  All 
these,  like  the  two  heroes  of  our  popular  literature, 
Goethe  and  Schiller,  have,  equally  with  the  members  of 
the  First  Constituent  Assembly,  insisted  on  the  princi- 
ple of  religious  toleration,  on  the  ground  that  liberty 
of  conscience  is  a  right ;  therefore  claimed  it  as  a  right 
of  humanity  in  the  name  of  reason,  of  the  Spirit,  and 
of  morality — nay,  of  Christianity  itself 

Are  they  on  that  account  the  enemies  of  Christianity  ? 
Is  it,  then,  unchristian,  or  fraught  with  danger  to  the 
true  religion,  to  demonstrate  that  Christianity  is  at  one 
with  morals  and  reason  ?  Certainly  Dr.  Stahl  appears 
to  think  so.  He  says  in  the  opening  of  his  oration : 
"  For  after  all,  the  first  moving-spring  of  that  tolerance 
*  Priestly  venom. 


STASL  AND  LESSINa.  247 

is  nothing  else  than  doubt  of  divine  revelation,  and  there- 
with of  all  sure  and  binding  religious  truth."  As  evi- 
dence for  this  incredible  assertion  (for  it  really  appears  to 
me  such,  in  the  case  of  so  learned,  thoughtful,  and  pious 
a  man),  the  orator  adduces  Lessing's  Nathan.  Nathan, 
the  orthodox  son  of  Abraham,  is  put  on  a  level  with  Pi- 
late the  pagan  Epicurean  and  man  of  the  world ;  and 
then  Stahl  proceeds  : — ''Are  Nathan  the  Wise  and  Pi- 
late right  when  they  ask,  '  What  is  truth  ?'  or  is  Christ 
right  when  he  says,  ^lam  the  truth?'"  Brilliantly 
said ;  but  is  it  equally  to  the  point — above  all,  substan- 
tially true  ? 

We  shall  really  be  obliged,  my  honored  friend,  to 
address  ourselves  to  the  answering  of  this  question;  al- 
though it  may  not  appear  to  you  in  good  taste,  when  the 
orator  so  unnecessarily  brings  the  sacred  person  of  Christ 
into  juxtaposition  with  a  philosopher,  whose  chain  of 
argument,  be  it  true  or  false,  still  cannot  be  set  aside 
with  a  mere  theological  flourish  of  words.  Certainly  it 
is  not  without  danger  to  say  much  to  this  orator  con- 
cerning German  science.  The  science  of  the  day  (and 
we  have  no  other  despite  Stahl's  books  and  speeches)  is 
godless,  and  we  shall  hardly,  I  think,  be  able  to  raise 
ourselves  to  such  a  height  of  self-sufficiency  or  self- 
annihilation  as  to  say  with  him  that  "it  is  a  blessing 
to  a  Christian  statesman  to  be  cursed  by  public 
opinion."* 

I  must  here  at  once  plainly  confess  that  I  have  hith- 
erto been  under  the  delusion  that  our  nation  desired 

*  This  expression  was  used  by  Stahl,  in  his  famous  speech  on 
the  Oriental  Question,  in  1855,  to  the  effect  that  Russia  was  the 
defender  of  right  and  of  Christianity,  and  that  England  had  no 
right  to  fight  in  behalf  of  an  Infidel  [Mohammedan]  Government. 
—Tr. 


248  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES.      ■ 

freedom  of  conscience  for  conscience'  sake,  and  in  the 
name  of  reason  and  Christianity.  This  I  have  always 
supposed  to  be  what  is  meant  by  the  simple  tradesman 
and  peasant,  as  by  the  truly  pious  and  wise  among  our 
scholars,  Catholics  as  well  as  Protestants.  But  it  ap- 
pears that  this  is  an  error.  "Science  is  godless — ^the 
desire  for  toleration  is  born  of  unbelief"  He  who  does 
not  share  the  view  of  our  author  on  this  point  must  be 
content  to  forfeit  the  name  of  Christian.  Upon  the 
practical  consequences  of  such  an  anathema^  in  Prussia 
at  least,  the  ecclesiastical  Privy  Counselor  does,  indeed, 
afterward  to  some  extent  set  our  fears  at  rest,  as  we 
shall  soon  hear.  Still  the  anathema  of  a  philosopher 
and  professor  who  is  also  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Ec- 
clesiastical Council,  is  no  trifle.  But  what  is  to  be 
done  ?  I  take  courage  and  pass  on  to  consider  the  terms 
in  which  he  tells  us  what  he  thinks  of  that  which  all  the 
civilized  world  calls  toleration.  This  is  the  passage  with 
which  the  whole  oration  commences  : 

"  In  that  epoch  of  mental  culture  which  arrc^tes  to  itself  the 
title  of  the  era  of  enlightenment  and  philosophy,  and  whose  dom- 
inant ideas  continue  to  exert  a  considerable  influence,  even  at  the 
present  day,  the  cardinal  virtue — that  which  takes  the  lead  of  all 
other  virtues — is  religious  toleration.  Every  man  shall  live 
after  his  own  creed,  be  he  Christian,  Jew,  Mohammedan,  Philos- 
opher, but  he  shall  accord  the  same  respect  to  the  faith  of  his 
neighbor.  So,  likewise,  the  State  shall  recognize  all  rehgions  as 
having  equal  rights.  Nay,  even  from  that  enlightened  Church 
which  they  do  us  the  honor  to  call  the  Protestant,  this  proof  of 
tolerance  is  demanded,  that  she  shall  concede  to  every  opinion, 
believing  or  unbelieving  alike,  an  equal  right  to  occupy  the  pul- 
pit or  cathedra.  It  matters  not,  either  before  God  or  man,  what 
a  man's  religious  creed  be,  but  only  whether  his  conduct  be 
upright.  According  to  this,  the  worst  crime  with  which  a  man 
can  be  charged  is  exclusiveness — ^that  is  to  say,  a  religious  con- 
viction claiming  to  be  the  sole  true  and  authorized  weed." 


STAHL'S  ORATION.  249 

And  hereupon  appeal  is  made  to  the  God  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  that  henceforth  no  one  like  Bayle, 
and  others  beside  him,  may  seek  for  toleration  in  the 
Bible.  "Did  not  God,"  says  Stahl,  "command  his 
chosen  people  under  the  old  dispensation  to  root  out 
every  other  religion  from  the  land?  Did  not  the  great- 
est of  his  prophets  cause  the  priests  of  Baal  to  be  slain  ? 
Nay,  finally,  does  not  Christ  declare  that  all  who  be- 
lieve not  shall  be  damned,  and  his  apostle  pronounce  an 
anathema  on  him  who  shall  teach  any  other  gospel?" 

Thus,  whoever  shall  plead  the  cause  of  that  tolera- 
tion which  Stahl  has  described,  is  no  Christian,  nay,  a 
positive  denier  of  God,  the  veriest  atheist.  Neverthe- 
less, it  will  scarcely  be  justifiable  by  the  laws  of  God  to 
stone  us,  on  account  of  certain  profound  theological  argu- 
ments which  he  adduces  against  so  natural  an  inference ; 
but  this  much  our  orator  knows  full  well,  that  unbelief 
in  Divine  revelation  is  our  deepest  incentive  if  we  agree 
with  Lessing  or  Bayle  ;  and  even  this  is  very  frightful. 
Certainly  toleration,  as  he  understands  it,  is  a  strange 
sort  of  thing.  It  asks  that  a  man  "  shall  accord  to  the 
creed  of  another  the  same  respect  which  he  demands  for 
his  own  ;"  at  the  same  time,  also,  "  that  the  State  shall 
recognize  all  religions  as  having  equal  rights."  Nay,  it 
makes  this  extraordinary  demand  upon  the  Protestant 
Church — "that  it  shall  accord  to  every  opinion,  believ- 
ing or  unbelieving  alike,  the  same  right  to  occupy  pulpit 
or  cathedra."  Really,  had  the  orator's  audience  been 
less  calculated  to  command  respect,  one  would  be  in- 
clined to  believe  that  he  intended  in  this  exordium  to 
make  fools  of  his  hearers.  What  in  the  name  of  truth 
and  reason  has  the  modest  wish  to  live  as  honest  men 
and  citizens  of  a  civilized  nation  in  accordance  with  our 
own  faith,  so  long  as  we  violate  no  civil  law,  to  do  with 
11* 


250  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

the  opinion,  which  I  here  encounter  for  the  first  time, 
that  a  man  who  does  not  believe  in  Christ  or  God  ought 
to  have  the  same  right  to  preach  before  our  congrega- 
tions as  any  believing  clergyman  !  Who  has  ever  de- 
manded this  of  the  Protestant  Church  in  the  name  of 
toleration  ?  No  one.  I  confess  that  in  this  passage  I 
can  hardly  recognize  our  acute  and  philosophical  author. 
He  surely  can  scarcely  intend  to  place  the  belief  in  the 
Gospel  and  in  the  doctrine  of  salvation  through  Christ, 
on  a  level  with  the  systems  of  the  Lutheran  theologians, 
according  to  which  the  Calvinists  are  treated  as  worship- 
ers of  Isis  or  Moloch  ?  For  we  are  surely  not  the  only 
members  of  the  United  Church  of  Prussia  who  thank 
God  that  we  are  at  liberty  not  to  regard  this  as  a  part 
of  Christianity.     But  who  knows  ?     We  must  see. 

We  are  quite  willing  on  our  part  to  confess  to  him 
that  even  though  toleration  had  no  ancestors  but  the 
French  philosophers  and  the  Constituent  Assembly — or, 
at  best,  a  few  men  such  as  Washington  and  Franklin, 
and  certain  ideologists  and  poets  whose  writings  consti- 
tute pretty  nearly  all  that  Europe  calls  German  phi- 
losophy and  literature — we  should  not  be  ashamed  of  this 
pedigree,  be  the  consequences  what  they  might.  But 
we  know,  besides,  that  Christ  died  to  set  men  free,  and 
not  to  bring  them  into  bondage.  We  know  that  his  dis- 
ciples and  their  missionaries  did  not  convert  the  intoler- 
ant ancient  world  by  means  of  persecution,  but  under 
persecution,  and  in  the  faith  that  the  reign  of  brute 
force  and  despotic  coercion  was  destined  to  be  transform- 
ed into  the  reign  of  God's  liberty,  as  is  prophesied  in  the 
Revelations.  We  know,  further,  that  the  inspired  men, 
who  in  the  sixteenth  century  undertook  to  restore  Chris- 
tianity to  its  pristine  form,  demanded  this  toleration  for 
themselves  on  the  ground  of  the  Word  of  God — neces- 


FATHERS  OF  TOLERATION.  251 

sarily,  therefore,  for  all,  else  they  themselves  would  have 
been  no  true  evangelical  Christians,  which  signifies  such 
as  accept  the  Word  of  God  as  their  highest  standard,  and 
a  believing  temper  of  the  heart  as  the  only  saving  faith, 
and  regard  the  Church  as  a  legally-ordered  community 
who  have  vowed  to  live  unto  God  as  brethren  in  Christ, 
and  are  subject  to  all  the  powers  that  be  (even  to  a 
Nero)  in  civil  matters,  but  subject  to  God  alone  in  those 
appertaining  to  conscience. 

And  if  the  Reformers  have  sometimes  forgotten  to 
practice  this  toleration,  we  ought,  I  think,  to  see  in  this, 
partly  the  natural  effect  of  a  thousand  years'  slavery — 
partly  the  working  of  that  despotic  egotism,  which  those 
in  power,  be  they  princes,  priests,  or  people,  so  rarely 
escape,  and  against  which,  by  the  testimony  of  history, 
nothing  can  protect  nations  except  a  free  constitution, 
and  a  popular  education  based  on  Christian  principles. 
In  short,  we  are  not  ashamed  of  the  predecessors  as- 
signed to  us.  But  we  can  not  but  wonder  at  the  asser- 
tion from  such  a  man,  and  in  such  an  oration,  that,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  progenitors  of  the  principles  of  toler- 
ation were  the  French  philosophers  and  the  Revolution. 
It  is  notorious  that  this  toleration  had  been  demanded 
and  preached  long  before  in  the  name  of  Christ  by  faith- 
ful men,  and  implanted  in  vast  Christian  communities. 
How  could  this  learned  man  forget  that  the  whole  his- 
tory of  religion  has  revolved  round  this  center  ever  since 
the  Reformation?  Forget  that  the  Netherlands  freed 
themselves  from  the  tyranny  of  Spain,  not  on  the  ground 
assigned  by  the  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Man  of 
1789,  but  on  the  ground  of  Gospel  faith  and  the  princi- 
ples of  the  earliest  ecclesiastical  reformers  concerning 
the  nature  of  faith  and  the  spirit,  concerning  the  divine 
dignity  of  man  and  the  sacredness  of  the  image  of  God  ? 


252  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

They  demanded  the  same  toleration  in  order  to  worship 
God  according  to  the  Gospel,  which  the  French  philos- 
ophers demanded  in  the  name  of  Reason.  Are  these  two 
things  so  incompatible  that  the  one  must  command  rev- 
erence, the  other  inspire  abhorrence  ?  To  me  it  appears 
quite  otherwise.  The  modern  mode  of  expressing  this 
principle  seems  to  me  perfectly  in  harmony  with  the 
course  of  nature.  When  the  longing  after  that  freedom 
of  conscience,  once  alternately  struggled  for  and  re- 
pressed by  sanguinary  contests,  had  entered  into  the 
very  flesh  and  blood,  no  longer  of  mere  isolated  thinkers, 
but  of  great  and  noble  Christian  nations,  why  should 
not  conscience  and  reason  demand  toleration  for  them- 
selves in  the  name  of  Humanity  ? 

But  the  doctrine  of  religious  toleration  was  preached 
first,  and  with  the  greatest  success,  by  the  men,  in  many 
instances  the  martyrs,  of  the  Evangelical  Confession. 
The  series  begins  toward  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, with  Robert  Browne,  the  spiritual-minded  and 
courageous  advocate  of  the  independence  of  single 
churches,  and  the  right  of  all  Christians  to  the  free 
exercise  of  their  own  mode  of  worship.  Why  has  the 
orator  passed  over  this  venerable  father  of  Independ- 
ency and  toleration?  Certainly  Stahl  has  no  love  for 
the  Independents.  In  the  course  of  his  oration,  he 
tries  to  demonstrate  that  their  principle  "  carried  out  to 
its  ultimate  results"  would  exclude  the  idea  of  the  Chris- 
tian community,  and  leave  room  only  for  the  isolated 
soul.  This  is  much  as  if  he  were  to  assume  that  if  the 
principle  of  the  centrifugal  force  be  "carried  out  to  its 
ultimate  results,"  the  earth  must  necessarily  fly  out  into 
space.  The  true  centripetal  power,  which  is  the  free 
conscientious  faith  in  the  God  of  the  Gospel,  seems  to 
have  been  as  little  wanting  among  these  congregational- 


BROWNE  AND  FOX.  253 

ists  as  in  any  Christian  community  whatever.  This 
body  has  maintained  itself  for  the  last  three  hundred 
years  under  heavy  oppression  from  State  and  priesthood, 
and  through  severe  persecutions — nay,  has  even  founded 
States ;  and  at  the  present  day  already  numbers  more 
congregations  than  all  the  Lutherans  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  Reasons  sufficient  why  we  should  not  despise  it. 
But,  assuredly,  it  still  remains  its  greatest  glory  that  its 
members  were  the  first  to  preach  the  principle  of  free- 
dom of  conscience  (I  beg  their  pardon,  of  toleration), 
and  have  violated  it  far  less  than  the  Lutherans  or  than 
their  own  persecutors,  the  bigoted  Presbyterians.  But 
even  among  the  ranks  of  the  latter  we  can  point  to  en- 
lightened defenders  of  religious  liberty  in  those  ages, 
and  at  their  head  to  one  of  the  greatest  Christian  poets 
and  philosophers — Milton. 

This  toleration  was  certainly  preached  in  a  still  purer 
form  by  its  apostles  and  martyrs,  the  fathers  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Friends — George  Fox,  who  began  to  preach 
publicly  on  this  subject  in  1650,  and  his  two  disciples, 
Robert  Barclay,  the  author  of  the  Apology  for  his  sect, 
and  William  Penn,  the  father  and  apostle  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. I  am  quite  aware  that  the  name  Quaker  will 
sound  still  worse  in  the  ears  of  our  Supreme  Ecclesias- 
tical Counselor  than  that  of  the  Independents,  or  even 
the  Baptists,  who  stir  up  his  righteous  indignation. 
But  as  I  am  not  writing  for  him,  nor  yet  for  the  theo- 
logians and  politicians  of  whom  he  is  the  spokesman  and 
pride,  this  circumstance  will  not  prevent  me  from  de- 
claring the  historical  fact,  that  the  toleration  preached 
by  the  French  philosophers  sprang  up  two  centuries  be- 
fore their  day  from  the  same  Christian  soil  which  pro- 
duced the  civil  and  constitutional  liberty  of  the  nations 
of  modem  Europe.     In  this  modern  Europe,  however, 


254  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

we  are  living,  and  moreover,  in  the  year  of  grace  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-five,  and  not  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  still  less  under  mediaeval  papacy. 
Here  are  the  words  of  Robert  Barclay  in  his  Apology : 

"  Since  God  hath  assumed  to  himself  the  power  and  dominion 
of  the  Conscience,  who  alone  can  rightly  instruct  and  govern  it, 
therefore  it  is  not  lawful  for  any  whosoever,  by  virtue  of  any 
authority  or  principality  they  bear  in  the  government  of  this 
world,  to  force  the  consciences  of  others ;  and,  therefore,  all  kill- 
ing, banishing,  fining,  imprisoning,  and  other  such  thmgs  which 
are  inflicted  upon  men  for  the  alone  exercise  of  their  conscience, 
or  difference  in  worship  or  opinion,  proceedeth  from  the  spirit  of 
Cain,  the  murderer,  and  is  contrary  to  the  truth ;  providing  al- 
ways, that  no  man,  under  the  pretense  of  conscience,  prejudice 
his  neighbor  in  his  life  or  estate,  or  do  any  thing  destructive  to, 
or  inconsistent  with  human  society  ;  in  which  case  the  law  is  for 
the  transgressor,  and  justice  is  to  be  administered  upon  all,  with- 
out respect  of  persons." 

Starting  from  this  forcible  proposition,  Barclay  shows 
that  the  toleration  which  the  Friends  desired  is  in  ac- 
cordance with  Christianity,  and  the  unchristian  nature 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  magistrates  who  caused  them 
to  be  hanged  and  whipped,  by  dozens,  as  malefactors. 
In  particular,  he  shows  how  that  when  Christ  told  his 
disciples  that  he  sent  them  forth  to  be  as  lambs  among 
wolves,  it  could  not  be  considered  as  the  distinctive 
privilege  of  Christian  magistrates  over  heathen  ones, 
that  they  should  devour  the  lambs.  Therefore,  he  con- 
tinues, Christ  reproved  the  two  sons  of  Zebedee  who 
would  have  called  down  fire  from  heaven  to  burn  those 
that  refused  to  receive  Christ ;  therefore  he  delivered  the 
parable  of  the  tares,  whose  uprooting  the  Lord  reserved 
to  himself.  Now  the  tares  must  be  either  hypocrites  or 
heretics ;  but  one  thing  will  be  pronounced  heresy  by 
one  Government,  another  by  another ;  from  which  it  ap- 


ROBERT  BARCLAY.  255 

pears  that  heresy  can  not  be  included  among  those  evil 
things  which  St.  Paul  meant,  when  he  said  that  the 
ruler  is  the  minister  of  God,  a  revenger  to  execute 
wrath  upon  him  that  doeth  evil.  Nay,  Barclay  even 
seems  so  bold  as  to  believe  that  this  refers  to  what  we 
should  call  police  or  executive  justice. 

He  concludes  this  remarkable  section  of  his  Apology 
by  showing  that  all  which  he  has  proved  by  the  clear 
leiter  of  Scripture,  follows  with  equal  certainty  from 
human  reason  ;  for  that  no  corporeal  suffering  which  one 
man  can  inflict  upon  another,  can  avail  to  change  his 
convictions,  especially  with  regard  to  spiritual  things ; 
but  that  this  can  be  effected  alone  by  sufficient  argument, 
united  with  the  power  of  God  to  touch  the  heart.  And 
according  to  these  principles,  he  says  the  Quakers  have 
acted: 

"  For  so  soon  as  God  revealed  his  truili  among  them,  without 
regard  for  any  opposition  whatever,  or  what  they  might  meet 
with,  they  went  up  and  down,  as  they  were  moved  of  the  Lord, 
preaching  and  propagating  the  trutli  in  market-places,  highways, 
streets,  and  public  temples,  though  daily  beaten,  whipped,  bruised, 
haled,  and  imprisoned  therefor.  And  when  there  was  anywhere 
a  church  or  assembly  gathered,  they  taught  them  to  keep  their 
meetings  openly,  and  not  to  shut  the  door,  nor  do  it  by  stealth, 
that  all  might  know  it,  and  those  that  would  might  enter ;  and  as 
hereby  aU  just  occasion  of  fear  of  plotting  against  the  Government 
was  fully  removed,  so  this  their  courage  and  faithfulness  in  not 
giving  over  their  meeting  together  (but  more  especially  the  pres- 
ence and  glory  of  God  manifested  in  the  meeting  being  terrible 
to  the  consciences  of  the  persecutors),  did  so  weary  out  the  mal- 
ice of  their  adversaries,  that  oftentimes  they  were  forced  to  leave 
their  work  undone.  For  when  they  came  to  break  up  a  meeting, 
they  were  obliged  to  take  every  individual  out  by  force,  they  not 
being  free  to  give  up  their  liberty  by  dissolving  at  their  com- 
mand ;  and  when  they  were  haled  out,  unless  they  were  kept 
forth  by  violence,  they  presently  returned  peaceably  to  their 
place.     Yea,  when  sometimes  the  magistrates  have  pulled  down 


256  SIONS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

their  meeting-houses,  they  have  met  the  next  day  openly  upon 
the  rubbish,  and  so,  by  innocency,  kept  their  possession  and 
ground,  being  properly  their  own,  and  their  right  to  meet  and 
worship  Grod  being  not  forfeited  to  any.  So  that  when  armed 
men  have  come  to  dissolve  them,  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  do 
it,  unless  they  had  killed  every  one ;  for  they  stood  so  close  to- 
gether, that  no  force  could  move  any  one  to  stir,  until  violently 
pulled  thence  :  so  that  when  the  malice  of  their  oppressors  stirred 
them  to  take  shovels,  and  throw  the  rubbish  upon  them,  there 
they  stood  unmoved,  being  wiUing,  if  the  Lord  should  so  permit, 
to  have  been  there  buried  alive,  witnessing  for  Him.  As  this  pa- 
tient, but  yet  courageous  way  of  suffering  made  the  persecutors' 
work  very  heavy  and  wearisome  unto  them,  so  the  courage  and 
patience  of  the  sufferers,  using  no  resistance,  nor  bringing  any 
weapons  to  defend  themselves,  nor  seeking  any  ways  revenge 
upon  such  occasions,  did  secretly  smite  the  hearts  of  the  perse- 
cutors, and  made  their  chariot-wheels  go  on  heavily." 

Thus  spoke  Robert  Barclay  in  the  year  1675 — there- 
fore, after  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts,  and  during  the 
illegal  persecution  which  commenced  with  that  event, 
and  lasted  up  to  the  year  1688.  And,  certainly,  thus 
did  not  speak  the  orthodox  Lutheran  priests  of  Germany 
in  the  seventeenth,  nay,  even  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
who  murdered  their  own  Protestant  brethren,  kept  them 
for  years  in  prison,  nay,  caused  them  to  be  executed  as 
criminals,  and  saw  in  the  victims  of  St.  Bartholomew, 
not  martyrs,  but  only  rebels  duly  chastised.  It  is  just 
this  odium  theologicum  to  be  freed  from  which  made 
Melancthon  rejoice  that  his  end  was  come,  and  which 
such  men  as  Spener,  and  the  best  and  noblest  men  of 
learning  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
from  Leibnitz  to  Thomasius,  struggled  against  with  all 
their  might.  They  were  as  anxious  to  deliver  the  Ger- 
man intellect,  well-nigh  extinguished  by  the  meanness 
of  the  relations  which  environed  it,  from  this  curse,  as 
from  the  crime  and  madness  of  the  trials  for  witchcraft. 


MERLE  D'AUBIGNfi.  257 

To  have  done  all  in  their  power  to  free  the  minds  of  their 
people  from  these  evils,  is  the  undying  glory  of  Frederic 
the  Great  and  Joseph  the  Second,  with  their  counselors. 

As  soon  as  the  national  Churches  of  Protestant  Ger- 
many had  recovered  from  the  tyranny  of  a  theologian 
rule,  those  men  of  the  Spirit  started  up  who  preached 
freedom  of  conscience  in  the  name  of  Christianity  as  well 
as  in  that  of  reason.  The  same  cause  has  been  espoused 
in  England  by  Coleridge,  who,  in  his  remarks  upon  En- 
glish theologians,  speaking  of  Baxter,  the  apostolical 
confessor  and  sufferer,  utters  the  grand  maxim — "The 
conscience  is  from  God,  and  so  is  its  freedom;"  and  in 
the  present  day,  the  representatives  of  two  different 
schools,  Maurice  and  Archbishop  Whateley,  have  both 
presented,  each  after  his  own  fashion,  the  same  uncondi- 
tional demand  for  liberty  of  conscience  in  their  respective 
essays  "  On  the  Kingdom  of  Christ." 

Meanwhile  in  French  Switzerland,  one  of  the  most 
profound,  noble-minded,  and  devout  of  Christians — 
Vinet — has  lived,  struggled,  and  suffered  in  the  same 
cause ;  and  in  spite  of  persecution,  a  rich  harvest  of 
blessing  has  been  reaped  from  the  very  principles  which 
brought  him  into  prison  in  1824.  He  has  a  worthy 
successor  in  the  celebrated  author  of  the  History  of  the 
Reformation,  Merle  d'Aubigne.  It  is  a  source  of  pain 
to  me,  and  no  doubt  also  to  you,  my  dear  friend,  that  in 
his  recent  statement  as  to  the  effects  produced  by  entire 
religious  liberty,  proving  it  to  be  the  only  security  against 
persecution,  D'Aubigne  should  have  had  occasion  to  de- 
fend himself  against  the  derogatory  expressions  of  some 
of  our  common  friends  and  countrymen*  whom  we  both 

*  See  the  correspondence  between  Merle  d'Aubigne,  Beth- 
mann-Hollweg,  and  Count  Pourtales,  in  the  "Evangelical  Chris- 
tendom," vol.  viii.,  p.  236,  vol.  ix.,  pp.  49  and  233-251.—^. 


258  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

respect.  Of  course,  in  the  difference  of  opinion  that  has 
unfortunately  arisen  between  them,  I  can  not  but  range 
myself  entirely  on  the  side  of  Merle  d'Aubign^,  but  at 
the  same  time  do  not  hesitate  to  express  my  confidence 
that  those  really  enlightened  and  liberal  men,  who  are 
also  actuated  by  the  best  intentions,  will,  as  events  de- 
velop themselves,  come  to  range  themselves,  not  among 
our  opponents,  but  on  our  side  and  that  of  all  the  friends 
of  the  most  strongly  guarantied  religious,  and  I  must 
add,  constitutional  freedom,  and  will,  no  doubt,  be  found 
in  the  foremost  ranks  of  that  party.  But  with  regard 
to  our  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Counselor,  I  dare  not 
cherish  the  hope  that  he  will  attach  the  slightest  weight 
to  the  names  to  which  I  have  alluded ;  for  it  is  not  to 
be  denied  that  among  them  all  there  is  not  one  single 
Lutheran  theologian  !  It  is  not  my  fault.  The  cir- 
cumstance has  struck  me  also  very  forcibly.  The  suc- 
cessors of  Luther,  the  confessionalists  and  fanatics  of  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  have  not  been  able 
to  maintain  their  ground  on  the  field  of  learning  ;  yet  to 
our  orator,  these  very  men  are  the  guardians  of  the 
sacred  mysteries.  But  if  even  those  pious  and  devout 
men  find  no  favor  in  the  eyes  of  the  zealous  Ecclesias- 
tical Counselor,  because  they  were  no  Lutherans,  but 
only  Reformed,  perhaps  we  might  still  appeal  to  the 
concurrent  fundamental  doctrines  of  our  Reformers 
and  to  the  blood-sealed  testimony  of  our  martyrs — 
I  mean  we  might  refer  him  to  the  Apostles  and  to 
Christ  himself.  But  no,  we  can  not  do  any  thing  of 
the  kind,  at  least  if  Dr.  Stahl  be  right  in  his 
second  proposition — "  Christianity  is  the  religion  of 
intolerance,  and  its  kernel  is  exclusiveness."  Yes,  this 
is  what  is  really  said  by  our  orator.  Let  us  hear  his 
own  words : 


THE  RELIGION  OF  INTOLERANCE.  259 

"  Yes,  Christianity,  as  compared  with  the  tolerance  of  the 
Roman  rehgion,  compared  with  the  tolerance  of  the  Greek  phi- 
losophy, nay,  even  compared  with  Judaism,  which  left  the 
heathen  to  their  errors,  entered  on  the  stage  of  history  as  the 
religion  of  intolerance.  Its  kernel  is  exclusiveness — ^its  mode  of 
operation  is  aggression  against  all  other  rehgions,  a  propaganda 
among  all  nations.  And  how  could  it  be  otherwise  ?  Certain 
of  its  own  divine  truth,  how  could  it  be  tolerant  toward  the  error 
which  robs  G-od  of  his  glory,  and  man  of  his  salvation  ?" 

But  perhaps  this  is  merely  an  innocent  assertion, 
couched  in  pointed  language.  Perhaps  it  is  only  a  strong 
and  novel  mode  of  characterizing  the  contrast  of  Christian- 
ity to  Paganism  and  Judaism  ?  It  is  true  that  we  find  it 
said  in  the  following  page,  that  the  Christian  mode  of 
thought  surpasses  every  other  in  that  which  is  the  hasis 
of  all  tolerance — love,  humility,  and  reverence  for  the 
image  of  God  in  man. 

''We  are  next  led  to  ask,"  says  our  orator,  "does 
Christianity  extend  a  tolerance  to  unbelief  and  false 
doctrine  which  it  does  not  extend  to  sin  and  vice  ?  Can 
it,  for  instance,  be  tolerant  toward  rationalism  and  pan- 
theism in  any  other  fashion  ?"  Yes,  replies  the  Profes- 
sor of  Canon  Law  (p.  6),  "  Christianity  does  not  know 
two  sorts  of  sin — sins  against  faith  and  sins  against 
virtue ;  but  it  does  know  two  sorts  of  imputation — im- 
putation according  to  nature  and  imputation  according 
to  grace."  What  a  pity  that  I  have  promised  not  to 
bring  theology  into  these  letters  ;  for  here  there  is  evi- 
dently something  very  profound  intended.  The  passage 
concludes  :  "  Man  is  not  the  judge  whether  a  sin  against 
feiith  has  its  source  in  a  positive  perversion  of  the  will." 

Shall  I  confess  my  weakness  to  you,  my  respected 
friend  ?  This  scholastic  distinction  makes  me  shudder — 
it  reminds  me  so  closely  of  the  language  used  in  the 
books  put  forth  for  our  conversion,  by  that  Church  which 


260  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

burnt  our  fathers  with  these  words  in  her  mouth,  and 
even  now  shuts  up  our  brothers  in  prison ;  that  hierarchy 
which  rises  up  in  indignation,  and  threatens  excommuni- 
cation from  the  fold  of  Christ,  and  the  dissolution  of 
civil  order,  if  a  Catholic  Government  think  that  they 
may  be  good  Catholics  without  practicing  or  permitting 
such  persecutions.  What  may  not  be  hidden  under 
such  scholastic  phrases  ?  And  I  am  confirmed  in  this 
fear  by  what  follows  soon  after : 

"  Christian  tolerance  has  God's  truth  for  its  boundary  line  ;  it 
swerves  not  from  its  fidelity  and  zeal  toward  that.  No  tolerance 
could  restrain  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  messengers 
of  the  new  covenant,  from  condemning  the  rites  which  were 
then  held  sacred  by  the  nations,  as  idolatrous.  No  tolerance 
ought  to  restrain  us  from  characterizing  the  philosophy  and 
science  which  are  now  the  cultus  of  the  nations,  and  whose  in- 
most root  is  the  denial  of  God's  revelation,  and  the  Subversion  of 
his  ordinances,  as  that  which  they  are.  No  tolerance  ought  to 
persuade  the  Church  to  allow  her  pure  doctrine  to  be  adulterated 
from  the  pulpit  or  the  altar,  or  move  the  State  to  surrender  its 
Christian  institutions." 

Here  already  we  have  the  State  brought  into  play, 
namely,  the  Christian  State,  or  that  which  persecutes  in 
the  name  of  Christ  and  to  the  glory  of  God,  which  a 
certain  party  calls  Christian  on  that  very  account.  This 
is  exactly  what  it  was  called  in  the  days  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion, and  is  so  still  in  the  countries  where  that  is  in  force. 
The  Church  does  not  thirst  for  blood — she  simply  hands 
over  the  sinner  as  a  criminal  to  the  State,  that  the  latter 
as  a  Christian  State  may  execute  her  "unbloody"  sen- 
tences with  fire  and  sword,  by  virtue  of  its  "  Christian 
institutions."  But  how  could  Stahl,  as  a  member  of  the 
Supreme  Council  of  a  Protestant  Church,  employ  even 
the  most  distant  reservation  of  this  kind  ?  I  can  not 
answer  you  upon  this  point.     It  is  strange,   and  the 


THE   CHRISTIAN  STATE.  261 

clause  which  follows  seems  to  me  still  more  questionable ; 
"  enough  that  every  man,  m  so  far  as  he  is  personally 
concerned^  can  live  after  his  own  creed,  without  detri- 
ment to  his  human  rights  and  human  honor."  Is  it 
really  to  come  to  this  at  last,  you  ask,  that  all  toleration 
is  to  be  reduced  to  the  proposition  that  the  individual, 
so  far  as  he  himself  is  concerned,  may  think,  and  (so  far 
as  the  supervision  of  the  police  over  press  and  publishers 
will  permit)  even  write ;  only  he  may  not  attempt  to 
worship  God  after  his  own  creed  with  his  fellow-believers, 
to  which,  however,  every  kind  of  religious  conviction 
impels  us?  Undoubtedly,  my  dear  friend,  this  is  his 
meaning.  If  the  ''individual"  cares  nothing  for  books, 
but  if,  in  obedience  to  his  conscience  and  the  dictate  of 
the  Bible,  he  does  care  to  worship  in  common  with  his 
fellow-believers,  if  only  in  the  most  private  and  secluded 
manner,  then?  Yes,  then  he  must  (in  a  Christian 
State,  for  in  Turkey  he  need  not)  in  the  first  place 
apply  for  permission  to  the  Government,  and  the  Govern- 
ment, if  it  be  (like  that  in  Tuscany)  truly  Christian, 
will  certainly  take  care  not  to  give  such  a  permission,  if 
they  can  possibly  help  it !  Stahl  himself  gives  us  some 
instances  of  the  application  of  his  principle,  and  so  we 
read,  among  other  statements,  the  following  : 

'•  Christian  toleration  will  not  silence  those  teachers  who  '  drive 
out  devils  in  the  name'  of  Christ,  that  is  to  say,  make  war  upon 
unbelief  and  sin,  even  when  they  walk  not  '  with  us,'  as  the  dis- 
ciple says — that  is,  with  the  Church.  Whether  it  be  teachers  in 
the  sects,  or  teachers  in  the  Church,  who,  in  the  general  darkness, 
have  preserved,  or  once  more  rekindled,  a  ray  of  Gospel  light,  in 
the  name  of  Christ  they  will  work  a  blessing ;  for  we  have  his 
answer  concerning  them,  '  Forbid  them  not,  for  he  who  is  not 
against  us  is  for  us.'  But  when  siich  teachers  turn  aside  from 
their  war  against  unbelief  and  sin  to  make  war  upon  the  Church 
itself,  and  can  not  tolerate  that  the  full  sun  of  the  Gospel  should 


262  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

shine  in  the  Church,  whereas  they  have  borrowed  and  reflected 
only  one  of  its  rays,  then  we  must  apply  to  them  the  converse 
saying  of  our  Lord,  '  He  who  is  not  with  us  is  against  us,  and 
'he  who  gathereth  not  with  us,  scattereth.'  "     (p.  9.) 

We  will  not  cavil  at  its  being  said,  that  to  such  as  do 
not  walk  with  the  Church — the  Papal  Church,  or  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  a  Christian  State — the  expression 
applies  that  they  do  not  walk  with  the  Apostles.  The 
unsuspecting  man  has  surely  never  thought  of  such  in- 
ferences on  the  part  of  other  Churches.  But  what  if  it 
is  precisely  to  the  Apostles,  i.  e.,  to  the  Scripture,  that 
these  men  appeal,  as  did  our  fathers  at  the  Reformation  ? 
Certainly  such  is  the  case  in  our  own  day  with  those, 
for  instance,  who  believe  and  teach  that  the  Apostles  did 
not  baptize  infants,  but  persons  whom  they  had  previ- 
ously instructed  in  God's  Word.  Now  we,  on  the 
other  hand,  can  with  a  good  conscience  have  our  chil- 
dren baptized — nay,  defend  infant  baptism,  when  con- 
sidered in  the  light  of  a  solemn  thanksgiving- vow  on  the 
part  of  the  parents,  and  a  sacred  birthday  gift  to  the 
baptized  infant — and  yet  not  admit,  as  the  Christian 
character  of  the  State  is  said  to  require,  that  the  Baptists 
can  be  thrown  into  prison  and  fined,  without  a  violation 
of  our  Constitution.  But  probably  we  do  not  happen  to 
be  true  believers.  In  Prussia,  such  proceedings  on  the 
part  of  the  magistracy,  stirred  up  by  the  consistories  and 
preachers,  have  been  solemnly  forbidden  by  a  royal 
decree,  and  therefore,  we  hope,  prevented  for  the  future; 
but  we  know  that  other  German  governments  are  carry- 
ing out  such  principles  to  their  logical  consequences. 

If,  then,  these  unnamed  persons,  be  they  Baptists,  or 
members  of  the  New  German  Churches  who  wish  to 
found  their  communities  on  the  Scriptures  and  the  Apos- 
tles' Creed,  or  those  poor  souls  who  read  the  Bible  in 


TOLERA.TION  IN  PEUSSIA.  263 

their  own  houses,  and  are  content  with  that — ''  if  they" 
(says  the  Ecclesiastical  Counselor)  '■'•will  not  tolerate 
that  the  full  sum  of  the  Gospel  should  shine  in  the 
Church,  because  they  have  borrowed  and  reflected  only 
one  of  his  rays,  then  we  must  apply  to  them  the  con- 
verse saying  of  our  Lord,  '  He  who  is  not  with  us  is 
against  us.' "  Will  not  tolerate — they  who  only  ask 
for  toleration !  It  is  the  old  fable  of  the  wolf  and  the 
lamb  over  again.  And  then  it  appears  we  must  pro- 
ceed with  the  Christ  and  the  Apostles  of  our  orator,  to 
cry  "  Anathema!" 

Now  what  are  the  duties  of  a  Christian  State  in  such 
cases,  appears  to  us  to  be  set  forth  in  the  most  plain 
and  thoroughly  Christian  manner  by  Article  XII.  of 
our  Constitution ;  at  any  rate,  I  thought  I  might  ex- 
pect to  find  nothing  contradicting  this  in  the  oration  of 
a  member  of  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council,  and 
the  Crown- Syndic  of  the  Upper  House.  For  else  how 
could  he,  with  his  scrupulous  theological  conscience,  re- 
tain his  office  and  dignities?  But  let  us  first  listen  to 
the  text  of  that  Article,  which  every  Prussian  ought  to 
know  by  heart — at  all  events,  every  one  who  has  taken 
an  oath  to  observe  it — and  then  to  the  orator  who  seems 
to  have  forgotten  it. 

The  Charter  of  the  Constitution  of  the  31st  January, 
1850,  Article  XII.,  reads  as  follows : 

"  Liberty  of  religious  confession,  and  of  union  in  religious  so- 
cieties, or  of  social  worship,  domestic  agid  public,  is  guarantied. 
The  enjoyment  of  civil  and  political  rights  is  independent  of  re- 
ligious creed.  No  damage  shaU  accrue  to  the  civil  and  political 
rights  of  any  individual  from  the  exercise  of  religious  liberty." 

Now  let  us  listen  to  our  orator.  After  showing  how, 
"  in  fidelity  toward  divine  truth,  the  individual  ought  to 


264  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

watch  over  the  religious  condition  of  his  neighbor,"  he 
continues  : 

"  The  same  demand  which  Christian  tolerance  thus  makes  upon 
the  individual  Christian,  it  extends  also  to  the  State — that  is, 
with  regard  to  the  conduct  of  Christian  Governors.  To  them  also 
is  issued  the  command  to  be,  above  all,  faithful  to  Christian  truth, 
to  maintain  its  authority  in  the  pubhc  arrangements  of  society, 
in  the  laws  relating  to  marriage,  to  national  education,  to  man- 
ners, to  personal  purity,  to  the  defense  and  support  of  the  Church, 
to  the  appointment  of  truly  Christian  men  to  offices  of  authority. 
But  no  less  is  the  State  commanded  to  exercise  tolerance  to- 
ward the  religious  condition  of  the  individual ;  hence  the  guar- 
anties given  for  personal  reUgious  liberty,  and  the  enjoyment  of 
civil  (private)  rights  by  every  religious  confession.  *  *  *  But 
certainly  the  liberty  of  religious  association  is  something  quite 
distinct  from  personal  religious  liberty.  This  at  once  oversteps 
the  bounds  of  inward  personal  development,  and  enters  on  the 
territory  of  public  social  arrangements.  This,  however,  is  the 
task  and  the  responsibility  that  devolve  upon  the  Grovernment ; 
here  it  has  to  take  into  account,  at  once,  public  offense  and  pubhc 
seduction ;  hence,  in  each  given  case,  it  has  to  hit  upon  the  fitting 
adjustment,  according  to  the  character  of  the  religion  in  question, 
and  according  to  the  circumstances  of  the  country ;  and  an  un- 
conditional and  unlimited  Uberty  of  religious  association  is  by  no 
means  demanded  by  Christian  toleration.  But  however  the 
rulers  may  have  the  right  of  circumscribing  or  prohibiting  re- 
ligious association,  they  have  no  right  to  make  that,  any  more 
than  personal  apostacy  (and  for  the  same  reasons),"  the  object  of 
criminal  punishment,  nor  yet  treat  it  as  a  crime  against  the  true 
faith." 

We  gathered  as  much  from  those  ominous  words 
which  Stahl  pronounced  as  President  of  the  Kirchen- 
toff*  held  at  Berlin*  in  the  sitting  of  21st  September, 

*  The  Kircheniacf,  or  Church  Diet,  is  a  voluntary  assembly  of 
Protestants  from  all  parts  of  Germany,  which  meets  at  different 
places  every  year.  The  first  session  was  held  in  1848.  Its  ob- 
ject is  to  bring  about,  as  far  as  may  be,  a  united  action  of  the 
Protestant  Churches,  and  it  does  not  consist  of  delegates  fi-om 


STAHL'S  CHRISTIAN  TOLERANCE.  265 

1853,  concerning  the  means  of  coercion  at  the  disposal 
of  the  Christian  State,  which  formed  a  strong  contrast 
to  the  tolerant  spirit  displayed  bj  all  the  other  speakers. 
I  hope  you  will  read  the  extract  from  the  proceedings 
which  I  have  given  in  my  Appendix  to  this  letter.* 
Here,  however,  our  orator  expresses  himself  without  re- 
serve. 

The  above  extract  is  followed  by  a  vindication,  con- 
ceived in  a  somewhat  Judaico-scholastic  spirit,  of  his 
truly  Christian  tolerance,  from  the  reproach  that  it  con- 
travenes the  Jewish  law.  I  hear  you  say,  my  honored 
friend,  can  not  we  be  content  to  admit  this  ?  No,  we 
really  can  not.  "It  is  true,"  says  Stahl,  in  substance, 
"  that  idolaters  were  stoned  according  to  the  law  (Num- 
bers xvii.  5)  ;  but  the  policy  of  the  Old  Covenant  was 
not  a  prototype  of  the  Christian  State,  but  of  the  future 
Kingdom  of  God."  But,  as  we  can  not  suppose  that 
there  will  be  any  stoning  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  this 
typical  character  is  not  particularly  clear.  Hence  the 
orator  adds,  by  way  of  explanation :  "  For  in  the  Chris- 
tian State,  the  reign  of  Grace  is  not  clearly  manifest,  as 
the  reign  of  the  Law  was  in  the  Jewish  State."  The 
uninitiated  might  be  inclined  to  exclaim  here — "What 
a  happiness  for  us,  since  we  have  to  live  in  the  Christian 
State  of  realities,  that  the  reign  of  Grace  has  not  yet 
become  clearly  manifest.  For  who  knows  then  which  of 
us  might  not  have  to  expect  some  sort  of  aggravated 
stoning,  if  there  is  really  any  thing  in  this  analogy?" 

congregations  or  churches,  but  of  voluntary  members,  clergymen 
and  laymen,  without  any  official  character  whatever.  The  only 
weight,  therefore,  attaching  to  the  resolutions  passed  in  it,  is  that 
they  represent,  to  some  extent,  the  public  opinion  of  the  Q-ermau 
Protestant  Churches. — Tr. 
*  See  Apendix  to  Letter  ix. 
12 


266  SIGNS  OP  THE  TlifES. 

But  we  will  first  trj  if  we  can  con^  to  understand  our 
author  better,  as  he  is  so  renowned  a  dialectician.  If 
the  Jewish  law,  commanding  the  stoning  of  idolaters^, 
has  its  counterpart  in  the  future  Kingdom  of  God,  we 
must  ask,  in  the  first  place,  whether  we  are  to  under- 
stand by  this  term,  the  thousand  years'  reign  in  which 
men  are  to  be  living  on  this  earth,  or  a  kingdom  in  the 
next  world  where,  according  to  the  w^ds  of  our  Lord, 
"  they  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage."  Now^ 
as  I  am  quite  unable  to  connect  any  intelligible  idea 
with  the  assertion,  that  the  civil  legislation  of  the  Jews, 
was  a  type  of  such  a  divine  life  in  the  Spirit,  and  our  in- 
structor gives  us  no  help  in  the  matter,  I  must,  since  we 
have  to  employ  human  logic,  assume  the  first.  Of 
course,  if  the  orator  was  referring  to  the  second,  he  is 
at  liberty  to  tell  us  so  ;  in  which  case  he  had  better  have 
done  it  at  first. 

Now,  in  the  millennium,  what  can  we  conceive  of  as 
the  antitype  of  the  stoning  of  idolaters?  To  escape 
needless  difficulties,  we  are  ready  to  assume  that  in  the 
millennium  God  should  not  reign  in  person ;  for,  if  this 
were  the  case,  what  would  be  signified  by  the  punish- 
ment of  idolaters?  Merely  that  the  unhappy  men 
should  be  crushed  by  the  rock  of  God's  Word,  i.  e.,  con- 
verted through  the  spiritual  agencies  of  conviction  and 
the  all-conquering,  because  divine,  energy  of  love  ?  If 
so,  we  quite  agree  with  the  Professor  of  Canon  and 
Civil  Law  that  this  were  a  method  worthy  of  the  King- 
dom of  God.  In  common  with  many  millions  of  Chris- 
tians of  our  own  day,  and  with  the  most  venerable,  wise, 
and  pious  Christians  of  former  ages,  we  wish,  and  beg, 
and  pray,  that  this  method  may,  without  further  delay, 
be  employed  in  the  cause  of  religion  by  the  Christian 
State,  in  the  stead  of  all  police  penalties  and  coercive 


OBLIGATIONS  OF  CHEISTIAN  GOVEKNORS.      267 

measures.  If  we  did  not  t)elieve  already,  according  to 
Christ's  words,  that  the  Kingdom  of  God  had  begun 
with  the  announcement  of  salvation  and  the  founding  of 
Christian  communities,  we  should  find  a  new  proof  of  it 
in  such  a  fulfillment  of  the  orator's  type.  We  can  hardly 
help  asking  how  is  it  that  he  can  not  see  the  forest  for 
the  trees?  However,  his  words  may  have  a  deeper 
sense.  Perhaps  the  stoning  is  an  emblem  of  the  King- 
dom of  God,  in  that  all  idolatry  is  really  annihilated  in 
the  latter,  while  in  the  Jewish  State,  on  the  contrary, 
even  so  far  as  the  law  came  into  operation,  nothing  but 
the  act  expressing  the  ungodly  temper  of  mind  ?  But 
then,  what  becomes  of  the  pretty  play  of  the  contrast  ? 
The  stoning  of  the  idolaters,  according  to  the  law  of 
Moses,  does  not  justify  the  Christian  State  in  attaching 
a  still  severer  penalty  to  apostasy  from  the  faith,  but  is 
a  type  of  the  blessed  condition  of  things  in  the  Kingdom 
of  God,  where  there  are  no  idolaters  at  all.  This  says 
either  nothing,  or  expresses  in  pompous  language  a  truth 
neither  new  nor  contested. 

Meanwhile,   I  return  to  our  oration :    it  continues 
thus : 

"  Moreover,  the  tolerance  to  be  exercised  by  a  Christian  G-ov- 
ernment,  equally  with  that  which  is  incumbent  on  individual 
Christians,  does  not  rest  on  the  recognition  of  man's  right  to  an 
arbitrary  choice  of  his  religious  belief,  but  on  the  duty  of  forbear- 
ance and  tenderness  toward  his  particular  rehgious  condition, 
therefore  toward  his  religious  conscience  even  if  in  error.  There- 
fore where  there  is  not,  and  can  not  be,  any  religious  conscience, 
there  the  State  is  under  no  obligation,  merely  for  the  sake  of 
freedom,  to  accord  any  Ucense  on  the  field  of  religion.  It  is  no 
part  of  Christian  tolerance  to  permit  a  decidedly  Atheistic  or 
materialistic  profession  of  faith — ^still  less  that  children  should  be 
educated  in  the  same ;  for  no  one  has  a  religious  conscience  im-' 
peUing  him  to  bear  witness  for  Atheism,  and  consecrate  his  child- 
ren to  it ;  toward  a  non-existent  God  no  obHgation  of  conscience 


268  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

can  be  supposed.  It  is,  at  least,  no  unconditional  duty  of  Chris- 
tian tolerance  to  give  a  general  permission  to  Deistical  religious 
associations,  i.  e.,  to  such  as  deny  a  positive  revelation.  Tovrard 
the  Grod  vp^hose  existence  we  merely  infer  from  reason  but  from 
whom  we  confess  we  have  received  no  communication  nor  com- 
mand with  regard  to  the  matter  of  his  adoration,  we  can  have  no 
dictate  of  conscience  impelling  us  to  a  common  worship  of  Him 
in  pubUc.  But  even  with  regard  to  the  varioiLs  confessions  and 
Christian  sects  of  positive  believers,  the  granting  of  formal  legal 
gimranties  for  the  exercise  of  their  religion,  still  more  their  reception 
as  authorized  forms  of  public  worship,  oversteps  the  limits  of  Chris- 
tian toleration.  Such  higher  privileges  rest  upon  a  special  recogni- 
tion of  the  intrinsic  worth  of  these  faiths  according  to  the  Christian 
standard,  or  of  their  historical  justification,  or,  lastly,  of  their  prov- 
idential significance" 

A  Daniel !  A  Daniel !  will  many  fellow-believers  of 
the  eloquent  man  be  ready  to  exclaim,  and  probably 
those  of  Rome  and  the  members  of  a  certain  Society 
among  the  first.  But  I  confess,  my  respected  friend, 
that  I  can  not  even  cry,  A  Gramaliel  I  For  this  wise 
Rabbi  observed  to  his  brethren  in  office,  the  members 
of  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  of  Judea,  that  it 
might  be  as  well  not  to  stone  the  men  who  preached  the 
new  doctrine  of  the  Galilean,  as  they  were  just  about  to 
do  to  the  glory  of  God.  "For,"  says  he  (Acts  v.  38, 
39),  ''  if  this  counsel  or  this  work  be  of  men,  it  will  come 
to  naught :  but  if  it  be  of  God,  ye  can  not  overthrow  it ; 
lest  haply  ye  be  found  even  to  fight  against  God."  I 
do  not  know  whether  Gamaliel  regarded  it  as  a  correct 
application  of  his  exalted  (because  reasonable)  principle 
of  toleration,  that  upon  hearing  his  speech  the  assembled 
Counselors  caused  the  Apostles  to  be  scourged.  But  in 
so  far  as  the  proceeding  may  be  conceived  as  lying  within 
l;he  sphere  of  the  correctional  police.  Dr.  Stahl  might 
prove  it  as  highly  as  his  political  adherents  in  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Christian  State  do  their  favorite  punishment 


OBLIGATIONS  OF  CHRISTIAN  GOVERNORS.       269 

of  the  cane.  He  insists  only  on  the  exclusion  of  '•^crinir' 
inal  proceedings."  So  did  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany 
two  years  ago :  he  only  caused  the  Madiais  to  be  put  in 
confinement;  and  "when  Cecchetti  was  sentenced  by  a 
civil  tribunal,  or  more  correctly  by  a  police  magistrate, 
to  a  year  in  the  house  of  correction,  it  was  purely  a 
civil  proceeding. 

Let  us  then  leave  Daniel  and  Gamaliel,  and  try  to 
come  to  a  clear  notion  as  to  the  essence  of  Stahl's  toler- 
ation in  a  Christian  (therefore  the  Prussian)  State.  His 
words  merit  universal  attention;  they  are  spoken  ex 
cathedra  (only  a  little  too  much  in  the  consciousness  of 
that  high  position  where  one  speaks  and  all  the  rest  are 
silent).  What  excites  my  alarm  and  astonishment  is 
that  he  seems  to  be  either  entirely  unmindful  of  the 
Constitution,  or  else  to  regard  it  as  something  unchris- 
tian, which  requires  to  be  amended  and  decently  draped 
in  accordance  with  the  new  Judaic-scholastic-pietistic- 
Lutheran  view  of  the  moral  government  of  God.  Both 
cases  appear  to  me  hardly  reconcilable  with  wisdom  and 
honesty.  If  our  jurisprudence  is  to  be  rendered  Chris- 
tian after  the  pattern  of  such  theories,  we  have  not  only 
no  longer  any  ground  of  objection  to  urge  against  the 
persecution  of  our  co-religionists  in  Italy  and  Austria 
which  we  complain  of,  but,  to  speak  plainly,  as  far  as 
it  rests  with  Stahl,  neither  should  we  have  any  legal 
guaranty  left  for  the  continuance  of  any  one  of  our 
liberties,  political,  religious,  or  mental. 

What  should  we  say,  my  dear  friend  if  one  of  these 
days  we  ourselves  should  be  arrested,  not  on  a  criminal, 
but  only  on  a  police  warrant,  in  case  (which  God  forbid) 
we  should  be  induced  by  the  anti-Gamalielic  tolerance 
of  Old  Lutheranism  in  some  parts  of  our  country  where 
it  prevails,  and  by  the  wish  to  escape  from  Lutheran 


270  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

exclusiveness  and  maledictions,  to  meet  together  with 
some  like-minded  friends  purely  for  the  purpose  of  relig- 
ious worship,  according  to  a  form  more  resembling,  for 
instance,  that  of  the  Reformed  Church.  We  should,  of 
course,  do  so,  observing  all  existing  regulations,  statutes, 
and  Christian  institutions ;  but  God  has  blessed  us  with 
children  and  grandchildren,  and  these  would  be  taken 
out  of  our  hands  without  further  ceremony ;  for  it  is  the 
duty  of  Stahl's  Christian  State  to  see  to  it  that  they 
are  not  led  astray.  Puchta's  refutation  of  this  despotic 
theory  has  not  convinced  his  great  friend  ;  perhaps  per- 
secutions will.  I  do  not  know  what  guaranties  we  could 
offer.  If,  indeed,  we  could  get  off  with  historical  creeds, 
I  should  be  ready  to  sign  the  Augsburg  Confession  at 
once,  if  I  were  allowed  to  do  so  with  reservation  of  the 
supreme  authority  of  the  Bible,  and  the  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith,  which  overrides  all  the  dogmas  of 
State  Churches.  But  some  sort  of  a  ''  qiiatenus^^^  some 
restrictive  formula,  which  may  blunt  the  edge  of  the 
dogmatic  absolutism  of  Byzantium  and  Rome,  such  as 
that  formerly  in  general  use,  "  In  so  far  as  the  symbolic 
books  agree  with  Holy  Scripture,"  we  must  beg  for. 
All  this,  however,  would  avail  us  nothing  where  the 
Lutheran  Government  was  animated  by  '  a  truly  living 
faith' — as  in  Mecklenburg  and  other  countries  which 
present  a  truer  exemplar  of  the  re-establishment  of  the 
Christian  State  and  the  priestly  office,  if  not  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God  itself  To  concede  our  petition  would 
be,  in  the  eyes  of  such  watchmen  of  Zion,  to  abandon 
divine  truth  to  the  "  license  of  the  individual,"  or  what 
the  Puseyites  decry  as  "  private  judgment."  This 
might  indeed  be  admissible  in  the  case  of  other  confes- 
sions, but  of  course  not  with  ''ours;"  for  ''we  know" 
that  we  have  the  truth.     Now  if  you  and  I  should  be 


LESSONS  OF  HISTORY.  271 

overtaken  by  some  human  frailty,  and  seized  with  moral 
indignation  on  hearing  the  invectives  against  factions 
and  sects  customary  in  the  Christian  preaching  of  these 
days  applied  to  ourselves — if,  remembering  that  man  is 
Ood's  image,  we  should  appeal  to  our  common  human 
rights  (not  "  fundamental"  rights,  else  we  might  all 
together  be  declared  guilty  of  high  treason),  we  should 
at  once  be  placed  in  the  category  of  Deists  and  Atheists. 
The  utmost  mercy  we  could  beg  would  be  that,  on  the 
strength  of  our  Lutheran  baptism,  we  might  appeal  to 
this  oration,  according  to  which  no  "criminal  prosecu- 
tion" should  be  instituted  against  us.  Even  this  restric- 
tion seems  to  have  cost  the  orator  some  self-denial.  His 
doctrine  of  the  heavy  responsibility  resting  upon  Chris- 
tian Governments,  if  they  do  not  maintain  Christian 
discipline,  has  stood  in  his  path  like  a  Medusa's  head. 
For,  at  the  conclusion  of  his  discourse,  he  bestows  a 
solemn  absolution  upon  such  Governments  as  may  fear 
for  the  safety  of  their  souls  if  they  extend  the  doctrine 
of  toleration  so  far;  and  assures  them  that,  for  such 
lenity,  they  shall  not  be  coiKiemned  at  the  last  day. 
Still,  certainly,  if  these  tender  consciences  should  think 
it  after  all  safer  to  maintain  the  faith  in  all  rigor,  we 
shall  find  ourselves  in  a  dungeon,  or,  at  best,  only  have 
to  hope  for  "the  enviable  privilege  of  banishment." 

See,  my  dear  friend,  all  this  we  should  have  reason 
to  fear, — and  who  knows  how  soon,  if  we  look  at  the 
history  of  ihe  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  ! 
And  yet  if  we  acted  as  I  had  supposed,  what  should  we 
have  done  more  than  the  Christians  of  apostolical  times 
(to  whom  some  of  that  party  appeal  so  often  and  so  in- 
<jautiously)  did  and  said  in  the  persecutions  under  Nero 
and  Decius,  when  they  shed  their  blood  to  re-awaken 
the  reverence  for  man  as  man,  i.  e.,  as  the  image  of 


2^2  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

God,  in  the  name  of  the  Son  of  Man  ?  Unhappily,  the 
love  of  persecution,  or  the  conviction  of  its  necessity, 
is  also  clearly  betrayed  in  the  somewhat  ambiguous 
answer  which  the  acute  Professor  returned  to  the 
straightforward  questions  of  the  unsuspecting  Baptists 
concerning  persecution,  at  the  Berlin  Kir-chentag  of 
1853.  He,  indeed,  protested  against  the  supposition  of 
the  Church's  preaching  persecution,  but  he  said  so 
much  at  the  same  time  of  the  care  with  which  the  State 
ought  to  watch  over  the  defense  of  the  Church,  and 
again  of  the  impossibility  that  the  Church  should  de- 
spise such  a  protection,  that  the  English  Baptists  were 
compelled  to  declare  in  their  report  that  they  had  not 
been  able  to  draw  any  encouragement  from  his  speech, 
for  they  could  see  nothing  in  it  but  a  covert  justificatian 
of  some  impending  persecution. 

If  I  look  at  realities  as  they  lie  before  us,  I  know, 
indeed,  that  such  a  persecution  is  impossible  under  our 
present  royal  family,  and  was  so  even  before  we  had  a 
Constitution.  I  have  simply  wished  to  show  to  what 
lengths  "  the  discourse  would  force  us  to  go"  (to  speak 
with  Socrates  in  Plato) — ^whither  that  system  logically 
applied  would  conduct  us.  And  I  can  not  forget  that 
Dr.  Stahl  is  not  only  the  greatest  orator  of  the  party, 
but  confessedly  one  of  its  moderate  members.  He  is, 
further,  a  man  of  learning  and  intellect,  and  no  one  has 
ever  reproached  him  with  barbarism  or  that  innate  hatred 
to  mental  culture  which  some  evince.  Nay,  even  in  the 
lectures  which  he  delivered  before  the  same  Protestant 
association  in  1853,  he  has  said  so  much  that  is  truly 
evangelical  and  Christian  (though  even  then  mingled 
with  questionable  eulogies  of  the  Catholic  episcopacy 
and  apostolical  succession),  that  we  may,  perhaps,  hope 
better  things  of  him  yet. 


APPREHENSIONS  FOR  THE  FUTURE.     273 

To  me,  his  system  appears  as  fundamentally  fallacious 
as  it  is  un-Protestant  and  un-Prussian, — un-scriptural, 
and  I  must  add,  not  only  unphilosophical,  but  also  repug- 
nant to  sound  common  sense.  What  is  the  good  of  such 
hair-splitting  distinctions  between  '-tolerance,"  and 
"Christian  tolerance;"  between  "liberty"  and  "guar- 
anties of  liberty  ;"  nay,  between  "  personal  freedom  of 
conscience"  and  "  freedom  of  religious  association"  ? 
That  is  no  more  than  is  offered  by  the  Spanish  ministers 
and  the  Portuguese  Constitution.  And  this  to  us  Prus- 
sians !  And  our  apprehensions  are  enhanced  when  we 
proceed  to  examine  the  doctrine  of  our  orator  with  re- 
gard to  the  Church  and  to  free  inquiry,  and  his  view  of 
the  Union,  which  is  closely  connected  with  these  ques- 
tions in  his  mind.  These  topics  shall  conclude  our  dis- 
cussion, and  form  the  subject  of  my  next  letter.  Mean- 
while, farewell ! 

12* 


LETTER   X. 

OBJECTIONS  TO  STAHL'S  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  CHURCH 
AND  THE  UNION,  IN  ITS  BEARING  ON  LAW,  ON 
RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY,    AND    ON   FREE   INQUIRY. 

CONCLUSION  OF  THE  GENERAL  SURVEY  OF  THE  SIGNS 
OF  THE  TIMES. 

Charlottenberg,  28th  August,  1855. 
The  106th  Anniversary  of  Goethe's  birth. 

My  Dear  Friend, 

The  day  on  which  we  commenced  our  corre- 
spondence was  fixed  for  us  :  we  found  the  summons  to  a 
solemn  celebration  of  the  festival  of  St.  Boniface  lying 
before  us,  and  we  could  not  refuse  to  obey  it.  And  thus 
the  course  of  our  discussion  has  led  us  on  further  and 
further,  till  we  arrive  at  its  conclusion  on  the  birth-day 
of  Goethe,  who  saw  the  light  one  hundred  and  six  years 
ago  this  day.  A  martyr's  day  this  too!  For  the 
entrance  into  life  is  the  entrance  into  sorrow,  and  most 
surely  so  for  all  who  come  forward  in  the  character  of 
"  confessors,"  as  those  old  heroes  of  Christianity  were  so 
beautifully  called.  And  Goethe  too  was  surely  a  con- 
fessor, nay,  more — a  prophet  and  an  apostle,  equally  of 
Germany  and  of  humanity.  Yes,  we  will  say  so  boldly, 
in  defiance  of  the  malicious  taunts,  not  to  say  calumnies, 
of  Hengstenberg's  Kirchen-zeitung^  and  other  "  Chris- 
tian" friends  of  the  orator  with  whom  we  have  to  do. 
Still  I  secretly  flatter  myself  that  a  man  of  genius  like 


G-OETHE.  275 

Stahl,  and  one  so  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  German 
tone  of  thought  and  language,  will  not,  in  spite  of  his 
associations  and  his  scholasticism,  remember  this  our 
hero  without  reverence  and  ajffection ;  but  that  if  our 
words  should  meet  his  eye,  he  will  also  rejoice  on  this 
day,  and  at  last  join  in  the  motto  which  I  propose  to  bor- 
row from  Goethe's  sayings  for  the  heading  of  our  present 
discussion.  The  passage  which  I  am  about  to  offer  to 
your  notice,  teaches  us  that  the  eye  of  reason  contem- 
plates the  history  of  revelation  from  Adam  to  Christ  as 
a  mirror  of  the  universe ;  by  which  it  is  evident  that 
Goethe  not  only  intends  to  express  the  divine  reasonable- 
ness of  this  revelation,  but  sets  a  Christian  belief  before 
reason  as  her  highest  problem. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  year  1816,  the  composer  Zelter 
announced  to  Goethe  that  the  idea  had  struck  him  of  con- 
secrating the  approaching  tricentenary  of  the  Reforma- 
tion with  a  solemn  oratorio,  and  begged  for  his  master's 
opinion  and  counsel  on  the  subject.  Goethe  praised  him 
for  having  conceived  a  purpose  so  noble  and  so  appro- 
priate to  the  occcasion,  and  sketched  out  for  him  a  brief 
plan  for  an  oratorio,  in  the  style  of  Handel's  ''  Messiah," 
— "  Christ  in  the  World's  History."  When  we  survey 
this  grand  and  truly  inspired  scheme,  it  is  easily  ex- 
plained why  it  was  never  carried  out  by  the  man  at 
whose  request  it  had  been  written,  for  it  far  transcended 
his  powers.  But  if  death  had  not  snatched  away  from 
us  so  early  the  youthful  genius  whom  we  have  both 
known  from  his  cradle,  and  whom  I  glory  in  having 
loved  from  the  first,  and  greeted  with  all  the  reverence 
due  to  genius — if  Felix  Mendelssohn  had  not  died  just 
when,  presaging  the  approach  of  the  storms  about  to 
burst  over  our  country,  he  was  intending  to  withdraw 
for  some  years  into  solitude  at  Rome,  and  there  work  out 


276  siaNS  OF  the  times. 

his  "  Christ"  according  to  the  idea  in  his  mind — then 
Goethe's  idea  would  have  been  realized  in  a  manner 
worthy  not  only  of  him,  but  of  its  great  object.  Still 
Goethe's  conception  stands  before  us  for  all  time  as 
a  great  Christian  thought.  He  introduces  it  in  these 
terms : 

"  Since  the  leading  idea  of  Luther's  system  rests  upon  a  truly- 
noble  basis,  it  offers  a  fine  occasion  both  for  poetical  and  musical 
treatment.  This  basis  consists  in  the  definitive  contrast  between 
Law  and  Gospel,  and  in  the  reconciliation  of  these  extremes. 
Now,  if,  in  order  to  rise  to  a  higher  point  of  view,  we  substitute 
for  these  two  expressions  the  words  Necessity  and  Freedom,  with 
their  synonyms,  with  their  divergent  and  approximating  mean- 
ings, you  will  see  clearly  that  in  this  circle  every  thing  is  included 
which  can  be  interesting  to  man. 

"  And  thus  Luther  perceives  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament 
the  symbols  of  the  great  perpetually  self-repeating  Soul  of  the 
Universe.  There  we  see  the  law  which  strives  aftier  love,  here 
the  love  which  strives  back  again  after  law  and  fulfills  it ;  not, 
however,  of  its  own  might  and  power,  but  through  faith  in  the 
Messiah,  whom  all  things  foreshadow,  and  who  works  in  all. 

"These  few  words  may  be  sufficient  to  convince  us  that 
Lutheranism  can  never  be  reconciled  with  Papacy,  but  does  not 
militate  against  pure  reason,  when  the  latter  is  willing  to  regard 
the  Bible  as  the  mirror  of  the  universe,  which,  indeed,  she  ought 
to  find  no  difficult  task." 

You  will  remark,  my  dear  friend,  that  our  immortal 
poet  has  here,  whether  intentionally  or  not,  so  to  speak, 
given  an  authentic  exposition  of  the  well-known  distich, 
written  at  an  earlier  period  of  his  life,  in  which  it  is  said, 
that  formerly  Lutheranism  had  hindered  the  tranquil 
development  of  civilization.*  That  is  to  say,  in  the  pas- 
sage we  have  just  quoted,  he  uses  the  term  Lutheranism 

*  Die  Vier  Jahreszeiten,  §  68. 
"  Franzthum  drangt  in  diesen  verworrenen  Tagen,  wie  ehmals 
Lutherthum  es  gethan,  ruhige  Bildung  zuriick," — Tr, 


THE  CHURCH  AND  GERMAN  PROTESTANTISM.    277 

in  reference  to  Luther  personally,  and  to  the  great  his- 
torical idea  which  prompted  his  act ;  in  the  angry  dis- 
tich, he  means  what  we  now  call  Lutheranism — he 
means  that  un-historical  and  un-philosophical,  as  equally 
un-theological  and  un-evangelical  network  of  inferential 
dogmas  in  which  Luther  himself,  to  his  own  and  Me- 
lancthon's  grief,  became  entangled,  during  the  latter 
half  of  his  life,  and  which  afterward  the  Lutheran 
schoolmen  elaborated  and  endeavored  to  impose  on  the 
Church  as  a  "  Confession  of  Faith."  Li  this  sense,  our 
great  seer  has,  as  a  great  seer  ought  to  do,  uttered  an 
incontestable  fact,  and  spoken  prophetically  of  the  future. 
For  just  as  those  theologians  desired  to  impose  their 
highly  doubtful  scholastic  inferences  on  our  fathers  as 
articles  of  faith  and  grounds  of  religious  division,  so  do 
their  successors  now-a-days  press  upon  our  acceptance 
all  the  scholasticism  of  the  theological  confessions  as 
"  revealed  truth."  Hence  we  will  take  this  motto  with 
us  by  the  way  as  our  watchword — Honi  soit  qui  mal  y 
pense ! 

And  now  to  our  work,  which  is  truly  no  easy  task ; 
for  we  have  first  to  examine  the  orator's  scholastic  doc- 
trine of  the  Church,  and  then  the  Ecclesiastical  Counsel- 
or's views,  so  nearly  connected  therewith,  of  one  of  the 
most  difficult  questions  of  the  present  day — ^the  Union 
and  the  National  Church  of  Prussia.  We  can  not  ven- 
ture, however,  to  descend  with  him  into  the  plain  of  real 
life,  till  we  have  attempted  to  ascend  with  him  to  the 
climax  of  his  whole  oration. 

The  orator  is  conscious  that  his  doctrine  of  the  Church 
brings  us  to  the  culminating  point  of  his  eloquent  dis- 
course; for  he  propounds  it  in  the  most  solemn  and 
elevated  tone :  "  German  Protestantism"  (he  says,  p.  22) 
"  has  a  higher  mission  than  that  which  the  '  Evangelical 


278  siaNS  OF  the  times. 

Alliance'  of  the  English  aspires  to  fulfill.  Its  vocation 
is  not  to  unite  the  sects,  but  to  exhibit  the  unity  of  the 
Church.  And  the  seal  of  this  Church  is  a  public  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  whose  delivery  constituted  an  era  in 
the  history  of  the  world:"  namely,  that  delivered  at 
Augsburg.  Mark,  it  can  only  be  the  original  unmodified 
Confession  of  1530,  of  which  he  is  here  speaking ;  for 
Melancthon's  milder  formula  was  never  publicly  deliv- 
ered, but  only  solemnly  recognized.  Now,  if  we  accept 
this  as  our  Creed,  without  making  any  distinction  as  to 
the  contents  of  the  several  articles  (which,  as  we  shall 
soon  see,  will  not  do  for  Dr.  Stahl),  we  shall  be  obliged 
to  pronounce  a  curse  on  our  brethren  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  on  account  of  their  doctrine  concerning  the 
Lord's  Supper.  On  the  sentence  we  have  quoted, 
follows  Stahl's  Profession  of  Faith  Concerning  the 
Church,  It  is  an  eloquent  elaboration  of  his  avowal  at 
the  Kirchentag  of  1853,  where,  as  a  good  jurist,  he 
indeed  accepted  the  decision  of  the  majority  as  a  matter 
of  expediency,  but  sought  to  attain,  by  the  insertion  of 
clauses,  what  he  had  been  unable  to  carry  in  the  com- 
mittee.    Notwithstanding  its  length  we  give  the  entire 


"  We  do  not  seek  so  to  loose  men  fi-om  the  Church  that  each 
individual  may  remain,  up  to  maturity,  as  far  as  possible  free  from 
predisposing  influences — as  it  were  a  tabula  rasa — ^and  then,  with 
the  Bible  in  one  hand  and  the  list  of  some  twenty  Protestant 
denominations  in  the  other,  decide  in  perfect  freedom,  as  he 
imagines,  to  which  of  these  he  will  belong.  On  the  contrary,  we 
strive  to  bind  men  to  that  Church  which  we  recognize  as  the 
true  one :  we  would  have  them  carried  in  the  arms  of  the  Church 
from  childhood  up,  by  baptism,  catechetical  instruction,  confirma- 
tion— ^by  the  influence  and  authority  of  parents  and  teachers — by 
all  the  public  rites  of  religion.  Even  our  investigation  of  Scripture 
proceeds  upon  our  belief  in  the  unity  of  the  Church ;  for  the 


THE  CHURCH   AND  GERMAN  PROTESTANTISM.     279 

Protestant  principle  of  free  inquiry,  which  was  first  proclaimed  by 
the  German  Eeformers,  we  do  not  understand  and  practice  other- 
wise than  in  allegiance  to  the  reverence  due  to  the  belief  of  cen- 
turies, and  the  testimony  of  specially  enlightened  men  and  ages. 

"  In  this  we  do  not,  as  is  said  to  our  reproach,  adopt  a  semi- 
Catholic  conception,  and  seek  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the  outward 
institutions  of  the  Church  rather  than  in  the  salvation  of  the  indi- 
vidual soul.  We  do  not  deny  that  the  individual  soul  is  the  ultim- 
ate end,  and  the  highest  standard  in  religion ;  but  we  do  deny 
that  the  individual  soul — that  is,  the  soul  in  its  isolated  character 
— ^is  the  seat  of  divine  communications,  and  the  recipient  of 
special  acts  of  grace.  This,  however,  is  the  conception  which  is 
held  up  in  opposition  to  us,  and  which  is  precisely  the  culminat- 
ing point  of  the  principle  of  Independency.  According  to  that 
system,  the  individual  congregation  is  independent,  sovereign  in 
the  kingdom  of  God,  the  abode  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  According 
to  this  conception,  by  logical  inference  from  the  principle  laid 
down,  the  individual  soul  is  independent,  sovereign  in  the  king- 
dom of  God,  the  dwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  can  hence  begin 
entirely  afresh,  and  from  its  own  resources,  to  expound  the  Bible, 
and  to  discover  therein  things  which  are,  at  all  events,  quite  new 
and  hitherto  unheard-of.  Our  doctrine  is  that  the  communica- 
tions of  divine  grace  are  promised  to  the  soul  only  in  the  Church. 
But  the  Church  is  not  a  mere  external  institution ;  it  is  a  king- 
dom consisting  in  the  influences  and  operations  of  inward  spiritual 
forces.  It  is  a  reciprocal  interworking  of  the  inward  personal 
faith  of  man  with  the  outward  forms  and  monuments  which  have 
been  created  by  faith,  and  now  stream  out  again,  the  breath  of 
faith  over  man ;  an  interfusing  of  the  grace  which  God  has  stored 
up  in  his  ordinances,  and  that  which  he  operates  in  the  soul ;  it 
is  the  treasury  of  all  divine  blessings,  and  of  all  human  x^P'-^^H-^'''^ 
and  efibrts,  a  transmission  of  sacred  things  from  generation  to 
generation.  Hence  it  embraces  within  its  scope  the  understand- 
ing of  the  Word  of  God,  as  it  has  been  wrought  out  by  the  faith 
of  Christendom,  and  by  the  aid  of  a  profoundly  believing  theolog- 
ical learning,  during  the  chain  of  successive  centuries:  and  the 
beautiful  forms  of  worship  which  have  been  framed  by  devout 
hearts,  from  the  days  of  the  Apostles  to  our  own :  the  communion 
of  the  ofi&ce  of  the  ministry ;  the  Christian  consecration  for  all  the 
relations  of  life,  for  the  home,  for  the  State,  for  art,  for  science : 


280  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

the  Christian  discipline  and  social  arrangement  of  the  nation,  and, 
above  all,  the  sacraments  in  their  proper  use  and  significance. 
These  are  ordinances  and  bonds  which  G-od  has  intertwined 
throughout  Christendom,  and  which  Christendom  has  in  all  ages 
helped  to  weave.  The  community  of  believers  within  the  circling 
limit  of  these  ordinances  and  bonds,  not  external  to  it,  is  the  Church 
— ^the  mystical  body  of  Christ,  the  seat  of  the  operations  of  divine 
grace,  of  the  Spirit  who  guideth  into  all  truth.  To  exalt  the 
Church  is  not,  therefore,  to  cleave  to  outward  forms,  to  violate 
the  ties  which  bind  the  soul  to  Christ,  but  to  cherish  and 
strengthen  this  personal  bond.  The  fruit  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
is  the  salvation  of  souls ;  but  the  soil  on  which  alone  this  fruit  can 
grow  and  flourish  is  the  Church.  It  is  not  cherishing  the  plants 
to  tear  them  out  of  their  native  beds,  that  they  may  grow  inde- 
pendently, by  the  energy  of  their  vital  juices. 

Now,  by  virtue  of  this  its  vocation  toward  the  Chiu'ch,  German 
Protestantism  can  exercise  no  such  tolerance  as  would  derogate 
in  anywise  from  her  rights.  The  German  Protestant  can  never 
recognize  the  Evangelical  sects — he  can  only  recognize  the 
individual  members  of  such  sects  in  their  personal  relation  as 
brothers  in  Christ,  not  so  much  because,  as  although,  they  belong 
to  a  sect.  His  tolerance  consists  in  the  fact  that  he  does  not 
judge  the  persons  of  men,  not .  that  he  considers  the  existence 
and  founding  of  sects  as  innocent  in  itself  (as  the  Americans  do, 
probably  from  knowing  no  better) — for  it  is  written,  '  There 
shall  not  be  divisions  among  you.' 

"  The  German  Protestant  vsrillingly,  also,  concedes  to  all  sects 
the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  but  he  can  not  feel  any  obliga- 
tion to  accede  to  the  demand  made  upon  him  to  secure  them  the 
right  of  making  his  own  Church  the  field  of  their  missionary 
labors.  Neither  does  it  by  any  means  follow  from  the  permission 
for  the  fi:ee  exercise  of  wor^p,  that  a  legally  guarantied  and 
authorized  existence  as  a  Church  shaU  be  granted.  In  our  States 
which  still  retain  an  estabUshed  Church,  and  whose  Christian  life 
has  ever  been  rooted  in  the  Church,  an  unlimited  so-called  Free- 
dom of  the  Gospel  is  not  a  principle,  nor  yet  a  justifiable  demand 
any  more  than  the  universal  '  Freedom  of  Rehgion.'  For  what, 
we  ask,  is  to  be  the  distinctive  sign  of  the  Gospel  ?  Do  not  even 
free  Scriptural  inquiry,  and  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith, 
assume  a  totally  difierent  aspect  in  the  whole  religious  system  of 


TRUE  PRINCIPLE  OP  INDEPENDENCY.  281 

one  sect  compared  with  that  of  another?  And  ought  their 
position  relatively  to  the  Church  to  be  entirely  unaffected 
thereby  ?  All  positive  concessions  to  any  given  sect  are,  there- 
fore, properly  made  conditional  on  the  examination  of  its  doc- 
trines by  the  authorities ;  and  the  States  of  Protestant  Germany 
have  no  cause  to  be  otherwise  than  chary  of  such  concessions." 

Here,  therefore,  we  have  our  orator's  doctrine  of  the 
Church,  and  its  immediate  application  to  religious  liberty, 
which  we  wished  to  hear  from  his  own  lips.  But  we  can 
neither  accept  the  doctrine  nor  the  inference.  In  one 
remark,  certainly,  we  entirely  concur  with  him.  He 
says  that  his  doctrine  has  been  unjustly  reproached  as 
being  a  semi-Catholic  conception  of  the  ideal  of  a  Church. 
I  do  not  know  who  has  made  such  a  charge,  but,  who- 
ever he  may  be,  he  is  certainly  wrong.  Stahl's  view  is 
not  semi-Catholic,  but  entirely  so — or,  to  leave  no 
ambiguity,  thoroughly  Popish.  If  it  should  ever  come 
to  Dr.  Stahl's  finally  casting  off  the  United  National 
Church  of  Prussia,  or  being  cast  out  by  it,  we  tell  him 
beforehand,  that  if  he  still  adheres  to  his  doctrine,  he 
will  find  less  difficulty  in  making  it  pass  current  at 
Munich  than  at  Erlangen. 

Unquestionably  he  who  denies  that  the  individual 
Christian  lives  in  the  Church,  and  is  called  to  live  in 
and  for  the  community,  is  no  Christian.  But  no  one 
does  say  this;  least  of  all  the  Independents,  against 
whom  our  orator  declaims  with  so  much  warmth.  Like 
the  ancient  Christians,  they  regard  every  local  congre- 
gation which  has  adopted  an  organization  of  its  own,  as 
a  self-governing  Church,  not  subject  to  other  Churches. 
But  this  Congregation  or  Church  is  the  judge  whether 
one  of  its  own  members  holds  and  teaches  the  right  faith. 
Nay,  one  section  of  these  congregational  denominations — 
the  Baptists — recognize  none  as  members  of  their  Church 


282       •  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

but  those  whom  the  congregation  itself  has  examined  and 
approved.  No  one  can  be  further  than  thej  from  deny- 
ing the  Congregation;  and  the  Congregaition  is  the 
Church,  according  to  the  Bible. 

Neither  is  this  the  case  with  the  Anti-Trinitarians  or 
Anti-Athanasians.  the  most  noble-minded  and  enlight- 
ened exponent  of  whose  views,  Dr.  Channing,  is  now  as 
little  a  stranger  in  Germany  as  in  France.  Nay,  it  is 
not  even  true  with  respect  to  the  so-called  ''Free 
Churches"  and  "  German  Catholics"  that  have  sprung 
up  within  the  last  ten  years,  except  in  those  instances 
where  they  have  proved  themselves  to  be  purely  political 
associations  under  another  name,  and  have  been  treated 
as  such. 

On  the  other  side,  however,  all  Protestant  Confessions, 
and  the  sentiments  of  all  evangelical  Christians  (which 
in  this  relation,  also,  constitute  public  opinion,  Dr. 
Stahl's  ''blessing-bringing  curse"),  harmonize  on  this 
point,  that  a  participation  in  Christ  and  in  God  is  con- 
ditional upon  faith  as  a  personal  temper  of  trust,  and 
that  it  is  the  Spirit  of  God  which  kindles  this  faith  in 
the  heart,  according  to  Christ's  promise,  given  just  be- 
fore his  sufferings  and  departure  from  this  world.  He 
who  denies  this  is  certainly  no  Protestant  Christian;  but 
Dr.  Stahl  must  permit  me  to  say  that  the  statement  of 
his  just  quoted  does  in  effect  deny  it.  To  me,  at  least, 
all  his  phrases  about  the  Church  appear  to  be  either  in- 
genious modes  of  expressing  the  well-known  belief  of  all 
Protestant  Churches,  or,  where  they  depart  from  this, 
to  involve  an  essential  annulling  and  denial  of  the  same. 
What  mean  the  words :  "  We  only  deny  that  the  indi- 
vidual soul — that  is,  the  soul  in  its  isolated  character — 
is  the  seat  of  divine  communications,  and  the  recipient 
of  special  axits  of  grace  ?"     That  is  to  say,  he  denies 


WHAT  IS  THE  CHURCH?  283 

either  nothing  or  every  thing.  Either  he  does  not  deny 
that  saving  faith  is  a  personal  thing — and,  if  so,  why  his 
attack  on  the  Independents  ? — or  he  denies  the  funda- 
mental Protestant  principle  of  justification,  and  how  does 
that  accord  with  his  office  as  a  member  of  the  Supreme 
Ecclesiastical  Council  ? 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  proposition  :  "  Our  doe- 
trine  is  that  the  communications  of  divine  grace  are  only 
promised  to  the  soul  in  the  Church.^''  Here,  I  ask 
again,  what  is  the  Church  ?  If  it  be  the  organized  com- 
munity of  Christians,  of  which  the  family  represents  the 
simplest  outward  form,  such  an  expression  is  perfectly 
allowable ;  but  in  that  case  it  simply  declares  a  fact  of 
natural  and  civil  social  life  which  no  one  has  ever  dis- 
puted. But  if  in  the  above  extract  the  term  Church  is 
used  in  the  sense  of  the  writers  on  canon  law,  as  the 
theologico-hierarchical  institution  whose  teachings  are 
infallible,  and  which  is  the  object  of  faith,  then  the 
writer  is  simply  a  Catholic,  in  the  sense  of  Rome. 

And  further  on  we  read : 

"  The  Church  is  *  *  *  the  treasury  of  all  divine  blessings, 
and  of  all  human  xo-P'-^^H-o-'''^  ^iid  eflforts,  a  transmission  of  sacred 
things  from  generation  to  generation.  Hence  it  embraces  within 
its  scope  the  understanding  of  the  Word  of  God  *  *  *  q^-^A, 
above  all,  the  Sacraments  in  their  proper  use  and  proper  signifi- 
cance." 

Certainly  our  writer  considers  the  communion  of  be- 
lievers as  the  Church,  but  how  ? 

"  The  communion  of  believers,  within  the  circling  limits  of  these 
institutions  and  bonds,  not  external  to  *Y"  (the  italics  are  in  the 
original),  "  is  the  Church,  is  the  mystical  body  of  Christ,  the  seat 
of  the  operations  of  divine  grace,  of  the  Spirit  who  guideth  into 
all  truth." 


284  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

"  Extra  ecclesiam  nulla  salus  /"  Outside  that  his- 
torical institution,  with  its  transmission  from  generation 
to  generation  (the  traditio  of  the  Catholic  canonists), 
there  is  no  salvation.  None  within  the  pale  of  such 
upstart  and  mushroom  denominations  as  the  Independ- 
ents, and  other  still  younger  offshoots  of  the  Reformed 
sister-churches !  No,  only  in  the  historical  Church, 
propagating  the  mysteries  downward  through  successive 
ages,  and  perpetuating  the  miracle  of  the  altar  !  So  say 
the  Romish  Priesthood,  and  we  shall  soon  hear  from  our 
orator  with  what  well-founded  consciousness  of  the  pos- 
session of  "  apostolical  continuity."  But  Dr.  Stahl  re- 
peats it  with  still  greater  energy,  unction,  and  official 
solemnity,  in  the  following  words:  "The  fruit  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  the  salvation  of  souls ;  but  the  soil 
on  which  alone  this  fruit  can  grow  and  flourish  is  the 
Church."  And  now  follows  that  striking  similitude  of 
the  Christian's  soul  wandering  around  among  Churches 
and  sects,  to  the  plants  taken  from  their  bed,  which  we 
have  given  above  at  full  length.  Considered  more  nar- 
rowly, however,  the  simile  does  not  seem  to  me  very  apt 
for  his  purpose ;  for,  in  reality,  plants  often  do  succeed 
much  better  for  being  transplanted  from  their  native  bed, 
and  set  to  grow  by  themselves  in  free  air,  light,  and  suf- 
ficient space.  But  who  would  dispute  about  words, 
when  he  thinks  of  the  sorrows  and  perils  that  are  being 
endured,  at  this  moment,  by  the  flock  of  Christ- — of  the 
calamities  and  dangers  that  encompass  our  fatherland  ? 

Poor  Rosa  Madiai !  didst  thou  find  comfort  in  this 
idea  of  the  Church  ?  Poor  Evangelista  Borczynski ! 
was  it  this  thought  that  gave  thee  courage  to  return  to 
the  Austrian  Empire,  whose  laws  thou  hadst  not  violat- 
ed ?  Was  it  this  that  supported  thee  in  the  dark  and 
filthy  dungeon  into  which  thou  wast  cast,  for  desiring  in 


WHAT  IS  THE   CHURCH?  285 

the  Holy  Passion  Week  to  keep  the  Supper  of  the  Lord 
with  that  body  of  Christians  to  which,  after  ripe  and  de- 
vout consideration,  thou  hadst  joined  thyself?  Will 
this  thought  waft  thy  soul  heavenward,  when  released  at 
length  from  misery  and  wrong,  it  returns  to  thy  heav- 
enly Father  ?  If,  indeed,  the  cry  of  thy  wrongs  should 
not,  ere  it  be  too  late,  reach  the  ear  of  thy  Emperor — 
a  German^a  Prince  loving  justice.  Poor  Francesco 
Cecchetti !  did  this  thought  help  thee  to  endure  thy  mar- 
tyr's chain,  and  exhort  thy  son  to  steadfastness,  when  he 
stood  weeping  to  see  his  pious  and  innocent  father  in  the 
garb  of  a  felon  ? 

No !  in  the  name  of  God  and  of  all  truth — No,  and 
eternally  no  !  Such  barren  phrases  have  never  yet 
comforted  any  human  heart  to  which  the  message  of 
salvation  by  Christ  had  come,  and  sprung  up  as  the 
germ  of  a  divine  life  I 

And  this  is  the  moment  which  the  orator  chooses 
complacently  to  amuse  himself  with  the  formulas  of  a 
scholastic  theology,  and  to  exclaim,  after  having  placed 
the  belief  in  this  theology  on  a  level  with  saving  faith 
in  God  and  his  Word,  and  the  redemption  by  Christ, 
^'  Cursed  be  he  who  yields  up  one  jot  or  one  tittle  there- 
of!"  Did  the  First  Commandment  never  rise  up  before 
the  mind  of  our  orator?  The  command,  "  Thou  shalt 
have  none  other  gods  but  me,"  condemns,  according  to 
the  doctrine  of  Protestantism,  those  who  put  the  ordi- 
nances of  men  on  a  level  with  God's  Word ;  therefore 
all  Catholicizing^  even  though  Lutheran^  sticklers  for 
Creeds  ! 


286  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 


FEEE  SCRIPTURAL  INQUIRY  AND  THE  EVAN- 
aELICAL  UNION. 

The  inversion  of  the  evangelical  conception  of  the 
Church  involves  very  weighty  consequences  for  Stahl's 
view  of  free  Scriptural  inquiry,  and  of  the  Evangelical 
Union.  These  consequences  have  an  immediate  bearing 
on  the  position  of  learning  and  the  Church,  in  Prussia 
and  in  Germany  at  large.  And  this  is  the  last  and 
most  pressing  point  which  claims  our  consideration. 
We  descend  from  the  giddy  heights  of  scholastic  phi- 
losophy to  which  our  author  had  conducted  us,  into 
the  burning  plains  of  reality — the  actual  condition 
and  circumstances  of  our  fetherland.  For  the  re- 
mainder of  our  discussion,  we  have  to  treat  of  the 
Christian  polity  in  which  we  and  our  posterity  are  called 
to  live. 

Stahl's  doctrine  of  the  Church,  forasmuch  as  it  is  a 
negation  of  Protestantism,  is  ipso  facto  a  negation  of 
the  United  National  Church  of  Prussia.  For  if  the 
essence  and  the  unity  of  the  Church  consists  in  the 
unity  of  historical  creed  and  scholastic  dogma,  a  union 
of  two  Evangelical  Churches,  having  each  their  own 
Confessions  of  Faith,  and  in  which  a  diflference  of  theo- 
logical system  on  certain  points  is  declared,  can  be,  to 
the  upright  adherent  of  such  a  doctrine,  nothing  but  an 
act  of  religious  indifferentism.  For  (as  Stahl  says)  how 
can  we  draw  a  distinction  between  fundamental  and  non- 
fundamental  dogmas  ?  Every  thing  is  fundamental  in  a 
self-consistent  system.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  what 
we  Protestant  Prussians  have  hitherto  regarded  as  a 
union,  and  called  so,  is,  to  say  the  least,  an  extremely 


PRINCIPLE  OF  UNITY.  287 

dubious  thing.  We  must  invoke  the  positivity  of 
Calvinism — nay,  even  if  possible  of  Catholicism ;  but 
above  all,  call  up  afresh  the  full-blown  Lutheranism 
of  the  seventeenth  century  to  save  the  faith  ;  that  is  to 
say,  to  smother  the  Union  of  the  Evangelical  Churches 
between  the  rigid  forms  of  ancient  and  modern  scholas- 
ticism. 

Dr.  Stahl  has  not  thought  fit  to  draw  this  corollary 
in  the  oration  itself,  in  which  he  has  altogether  kept  the 
question  of  the  Union  in  the  background.  His  candor, 
therefore,  deserves  acknowledgment,  when  he  remedies 
this  omission  by  some  lengthy  notes.  He  appends  the 
first  (p.  16-19)  to  a  rather  sentimental  than  philosophi- 
cal exposition  of  an  idea  which,  in  its  wider  sense,  is 
thoroughly  untrue.  According  to  him,  German  toler- 
ance (that  of  the  theologians  who  hunted  Spener  to 
death)  took  its  rise  from  Pietism.  Spener  prepared  the 
way  for  it  by  placing  the  essence  of  piety  in  the  inward 
life,  in  a  Christian  walk,  and  charity — without,  there- 
fore, ceasing  to  be  a  good  Lutheran.  Hence  he  draws 
the  following  maxim  for  the  tolerance  of  German 
Protestantism,  as  the  summary  of  its  essence.  "  The 
recognition  of  Christian  brotherhood  in  those  who 
differ  from  its;  while  preserving  fidelity  toward  the 
Church''  (p.  16). 

That  you  may  not,  my  dear  friend,  remain  in  any 
obscurity  as  to  the  meaning  of  this  oracular  saying, 
allow  me,  in  the  first  plaCe,  to  throw  a  light  on  some 
points  from  the  note  to  which  I  have  referred.  First, 
under  the  phrase  "  those  who  differ''  (the  heterodox,  or 
dissenters  ?),  the  Romish  hierarchists  are  equally  under- 
stood with  that  communion  which  we  Lutherans  have 
been  wont  to  call  the  Reformed  Sister  Church.  Nay, 
the  recognition  of  the  "  providential  significance"  of  the 


288  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Catholic  Church,  which  meets  us  later  on,  has  evidently 
flowed  much  more  readily  from  Stahl's  theory  than  that 
of  "  Calvinism.'^  Observe,  secondly,  that  Christian  and 
evangelical  toleration  is,  according  to  him,  that  exercised 
by  one  theological  system  toward  another ;  not  toleration 
as  exercised  by  the  magistracy,  still  less  that  of  a  State 
renouncing  all  persecution  (therefore  an  atheistical 
State),  or  that  of  the  Congregation  enjoying  only  the 
^'limited  understanding  of  subjects,"*  which  is  usually 
denominated  the  Christian  people.  The  theologians 
define  for  the  people  what  is  to  be  called  in  history, 
toleration  and  mental  freedom.  Alas  for  history ! — 
alas,  indeed,  for  the  peoples  !  But  this,  it  seems,  is  the 
true  reading  of  the  order  of  Providence.  Catholic  States 
may  not  exercise  any  toleration  whatever ;  the  clergy, 
awakened  to  a  consciousness  of  the  dignity  of  their  office, 
the  "oecumenical  episcopate,"  as  shown  in  Stahl's 
speech  before  the  Kirchentag  in  1853,  has  the  kernel 
of  Christianity,  exclusiveness,  for  its  watchword.  Hence 
it  is  that  the  Lutheran  theology,  which  stands  as  truth 
between  two  divergent  systems,  has  grasped  this  kernel 
so  much  more  firmly  than  the  system  of  the  Reformed 
Church.  The  latter  has,  according  to  the  verdict  of  our 
prophet,  only  the  mission  to  "accomplish  the  sanctifica- 
tion   of  the  congregation;"    truly  a  very  evangelical 

*  This  expression,  now  a  common  phrase  in  Germany,  was 
first  employed  by  M.  Von  Rochow,  Minister  of  the  Interior  in 
Prussia  from  1840  to  1848 ;  who,  in  an  official  reply  to  the 
remonstrances  and  suggestions  with  regard  to  the  granting  of 
the  Constitution,  offered  in  the  most  loyal  and  respectful  manner 
by  the  Burgomaster  of  one  of  the  principal  Prussian  cities,  said, 
"  The  limited  understanding  of  a  subject  is  not  capable  of  forming 
a  judgment  on  such  subjects."  (Der  beschrangte  Unterthanen- 
verstand  ist  nicht  fahig  dergleichen  Q-egenstande  zu  urtheilen.") 
—Tr.  J 


CALIXT  AND  SCHLEIERMACHEE.  289 

mission,  seeing  that  the  Gospel  knows  no  Church  but 
the  Congregation.  Hence,  finally,  is  it  to  be  explained, 
that  our  orator's  tolerance  is  extended  in  equal  measure 
to  the  Catholic  and  the  Reformed  Churches.  Now  we 
do  not  desire  merely  toleration,  but  freedom  for  both ; 
and  we  have  no  odium  tJwohgicum  toward  either  the 
one  or  the  other.  We  live  in  the  most  perfect  peace 
with  our  Catholic  fellow-citizens,  mutually  respecting 
the  conscientious  belief  of  our  Christian  brethren.  We 
have  no  enemies  but  the  persecuting  hierarchists,  be 
they  the  Pope  and  his  bishops,  or  exclusive  Lutheran 
pastors  and  professors,  who  anathematize  toleration  as 
unchristian,  and  decry  religious  liberty  as  revolution  or 
atheism.  But,  for  this  very  reason,  it  is  the  same  thing 
to  us  what  garb  this  hierarchical  spirit  assumes ;  and 
whether  we  encounter  it  in  Rome  or  Oxford,  in  Berlin 
or  Halle.  To  say  the  truth,  of  all  these  Popes,  the 
Pope  of  Rome  has  always  appeared  to  me  the  best; 
and  of  all  hierarchical  systems,  that  of  Rome  the  only 
logical  one. 

The  orator  uses  moderate  language  in  speaking  of 
Calixt,*  in  order  to  aim  the  severer  side-blow  at  Schlei- 
ermacher.  The  elder  Calixt  was  no  doubt  worthy  of 
all  honor  when,  surrounded  by  the  calamities  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  he  endeavored  to  bring  about  a 
union  of  the  Protestant  with  the  Catholic  Church.  He 
was  much  more  in  earnest  in  this  matter  than  Leibnitz, 
for  which  very  reason  his  attempt  must  be  regarded  as 
a  still  more  signal  failure  and  thorough  mistake,  as  soon 
as  we  perceive  that  in  such  a  union  the  power  of  the 
clergy  is  a  question  of  more  importance  to  the  peoples 

*  A  learned  professor,  who  wrote  about  1650,  and  aimed  at 
bringing  about  a  union  between  the  CathoKc  and  Protestant 
Churches,  by  a  system  of  syncretism  or  fusion. — Tr. 
13 


200  SIGNS  OF  THE   TIMES. 

and  States  than  their  dogmas.  That  in  that  day  Calixt 
should  have  treated  the  differences  between  the  Lutheran 
and  Reformed  dogmas  as  almost  equally  serious  with  the 
great  points  of  contrast  which  separated  Lutherans  and 
Reformed  alike  from  the  Romish  hierarchy,  is  rendered 
intelligible  by  the  history  of  that  terrible  epoch.  Tho- 
luck  has,  with  meritorious  industry,  drawn  forth  to  light 
all  the  miserable  pettiness  of  the  Lutheranism  of  the 
seventeenth  century ;  and,  from  the  passages  he  adduces,* 
we  can  see  that  Hase,  the  conscientious  and  spirited 
Church  historian,  simply  relates  a  naked  historical  fact, 
when  he  says : 

"  The  theologians  of  the  Reformed  Church  were  al- 
ways inclined  to  recognize  the  Lutherans  as  brothers, 
while  the  latter  preferred  holding  communion  with  Pa- 
pists, and  affirmed  the  hope  that  even  Calvinists  might 
be  saved,  to  be  an  inspiration  of  the  devil,  "f 

But  that  in  1855,  a  member  oT  the  Supreme  Council 
of  the  United  National  Church  of  Prussia  should  seri- 
ously propose  that  such  a  union  or  confederation,  as  if 
between  three  equal  powers,  should  be  carried  out  by 
Lutheranism,  as  holding  the  true  medium  between 
Catholicism  and  Calvinism ; — ^that  he  should  see  nothing 
more  in  Schleiermacher's  representation  of  the  relative 
position  of  the  two  Protestant  Confessions  than  a  muti- 
lation of  Calixt' s  scheme — ^the  syncretism  of  Calixt 
without  his  logical  consistency ; — that  in  the  peroration 
of  his  discourse  he  should  again  dwell  with  much  unc- 
tion on  the  co-ordinate  rank  of  the  three  Churches, 
relatively  to  the  one  true  Church  of  the  future — this  I 
confess,  my  honored  friend,  is  more  than  I  had  ex- 

*  See  Tholuck's  "  Geist  dor  Lutherischen  Theologen,"  §  115, 
169,  211. 
t  Kirchengeschichte,  p.  527,  seventh  edition,  1854. 


THE  UNION  OF  CONFESSIONS.  291 

pected  from  one  who  accepted  the  post  of  Supreme 
Ecclesiastical  Counselor  so  lately  as  the  year  1852. 
For  he  could  not  but  know  that  the  Old  Lutherans,  in 
so  far  as  they  set  themselves  against  the  Union,  are  a 
sect  in  Prussia,  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  according  to 
which  the  United  Church  is  the  one  Evangelical  Na- 
tional Church. 

But  this  is  the  sore  point.  The  union  of  the  two 
Confessions  is,  to  Dr.  Stahl,  only  an  exception  in 
Prussia;  and  there  can  be  no  question  of  toleration  in 
the  case  ;  for  toleration  is  possible  only  between  existing 
religious  bodies:  the  Union  abrogates  these  bodies — 
annihilates  them.     Here  are  his  own  words : 

".The  Union  occupies  a  perfectly  distinct  ground  from  that  of 
toleration,  and  in  reahty  there  is  no  point  of  contact  between 
them.  For  the  Union  (I  mean  by  this  merely  the  Confessional 
Union,  which  even  in  the  national  Church  of  Prussia  only  forms 
the  exception)  consists  herein,  that  the  Lutheran  and  the  Ee- 
formed  Churches  are  mutually  and  voluntarily  to  give  up  their 
distinctive  dogmas,  and  a  new  doctrinal  system,  common  to  both, 
is  to  be  formed  around  the  Consensus  as  its  nucleus.  But  in  that 
case  it  is  clear  that  there  can  be  no  longer  any  question  of  tolera- 
tion— that  is,  of  tolerating  others  who  teach  differently ;  for 
there  is  only  one  doctrine,  and  Lutherans  and  Reformed  can  no 
longer  be  tolerant  toward  each  other,  when  they  no  longer  exist 
at  all."     (Note,  p.  16.) 

In  this  passage  every  thing  is  distorted.  It  is  the 
very  principle  of  the  Union  that  no  congregation  is  to 
be  deprived  of  its  Confession  of  Faith.  On  the  con- 
trary, two  sets  of  confessions  and  symbolical  books  are 
laid  before  it ;  agreeing  in  essential  points,  and  yet  inde- 
pendent of  each  other.  The  essence  of  the  Confessional 
Union  does  not  consist  in  the  surrender  of  their  dis- 
tinctive types  of  doctrine  by  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed 
divines,  but  simply  in  their  recognition  that  these  dis- 


292  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

tinctions  form  no  ground  for  separate  communion  as 
regards  worship  and  discipline.  Certainly,  if  this  fun- 
damental idea  be  correct,  the  consummation  of  the  Union 
will  consist  in  the  progressive  development  of  the  posi- 
tive doctrines  held  in  common.  And  if  the  Spirit  of 
God  see  fit  to  guide  the  Church  into  this  path,  who  shall 
say  Him  nay?  The  Pope  and  Dr.  Stahl.  For  they 
both  regard  theological  systems  as  ' '  the  revealed  truth 
of  the  Church" — a  truth  of  which  naturally  each  frac- 
tion is  fundamental,  even  to  the  most  recondite  and 
dubious  of  scholastic  inferences.  Of  course,  if  we  ad- 
mit this,  there  is  an  end  of  the  Union.  The  King's 
Address  of  1817  expressly  makes  such  a  distinction. 
But  what  means  the  following  passage  ? 

"  Having  once  recognized  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  to  be 
revealed  truth,  Grerman  Protestantism  can  not  make  a  distinction 
between  its  articles  as  fundamental  and  non-fundamental  {i.  e., 
not  essential  to  salvation).  Dare  any  man  presume  to  draw  a 
line  of  demarcation  through  the  territory  of  Divine  revelation, 
and  say  that  what  lives  on  this  side  of  it  has  been  propounded 
by  God  for  our  reception  only,  as  it  were,  as  a  matter  of  luxury  ? 
To  the  individual  soul  nothing  is  fundamental  save  that  last  glim- 
mering spark  of  faith  which  none  but  G-od  perceives,  and  which 
in  no  case  can  be  reduced  under  a  formula.  To  the  Church  every 
thing  is  fundamental  that  forms  a  part  of  the  whole  indivisible 
helkf  revealed  by  God.  And  Anathema  sit  !  whoever  consciously 
gives  up  one  jot  or  one  tittle  thereof!"  (p.  25.) 

What  he  offers  to  us  as  a  "  Union,"  in  place  of  the 
"  Confessional  Union,"  is  a  theological  compact  of  thjB 
Lutherans  with  the  Catholics  and  Reformed  Churches, 
on  the  ground  of  a  recognition  of  the  "particular 
providential  mission  of  the  three  great  Confessions  into 
which  Christendom  is  now  divided,  as  one  indivisible 
oiKovofjita  of  the  kingdom  of  God ;  according  to  which, 
even  the  separation  itself,  although  in  the  first  instance 


THE  POSITION  OF  LUTHERANISM.  293 

the  work  of  human  error,  narrow-mindedness  and  obsti- 
nacy, still,  nevertheless,  must  be  regarded  also  as  the 
result  of  a  special  providential  mission."  Here,  we 
should  like  to  ask,  Which  then  was  the  erring,  narrow- 
minded,  and  obstinate  party  at  the  Reformation  ?  Surely 
not  the  Protestant?  Or,  afterward,  when  the  schism 
took  place  among  the  Protestants?  Surely  not  the 
Lutheran?  But  these  are  trifles.  What  becomes  of 
the  Union?  He  who  sets  up  a  Union  with  the  Papacy 
as  a  counterpart  to  the  union  between  the  Lutherans 
and  the  Reformed,  ill  conceals  that  he  does  not  or  can 
not  cordially  concur  in  the  Union  as  accomplished  by 
Frederic  William  IH.  He  does  not  approve  it,  inas- 
much as  no  reasonable  man  can  now-a-days  believe  that 
Rome  could  propose  to,  or  accept  from,  the  Protestants 
any  thing  but  an  unconditional  submission.  He  can  not 
desire  it,  if  he  can  for  one  moment  plaee  the  Union 
between  German  Protestants  in  one  category  with  a 
union  between  Protestantism  and  Roman  Catholicism. 
What  an  abyss  has  our  Ecclesiastical  Counselor  opened 
between  his  doctrine  and  the  Gospel !  Whether  he  calls 
his  system  Lutheranism,  or,  as  would  be  more  correct, 
crude  papistry,  we  can  have  nothing  to  do  with  it  in  our 
United  National  Church.  We  will  not,  however,  suffer 
ourselves  to  grow  angry,  but  calmly  read  and  weigh 
what  follows — the  brilliant  peroration  of  the  discourse. 
Who  knows  but  it  may  yield  us  at  last  some  happy 
solution  ? 

A  magnificent  conclusion  it  certainly  is,  and  I  most 
sincerely  acknowledge  its  eloquence.  And  it  appears 
to  offer  to  our  acceptance  an  invaluable  treasure.  As 
becomes  a  well-arranged  discourse,  the  end  is  the  most 
exalted  part  of  it — a  true  and  high  work  of  art.  On 
reading  it  I  mentally  exclaimed.  What  a  dazzling  burst 


294  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

of  eloquence !  If  all  this  be  true,  we  have  only  to 
decide  which  most  to  admire — the  mystic  sublimity  of 
the  seer  of  the  past,  the  wisdom  of  the  statesman  of  the 
present,  or  the  marvelous  heights  attained  by  the  prophet 
of  the  future.  The  very  position  now  openly  assumed 
by  our  author  filled  me  with  astonishment,  and  still 
more  so,  the  unhesitating  confidence  with  which  he 
regards  it  as  that  of  German  Protestantism.  "He 
stands"  (as  he  exclaims  from  his  lofty  eminence)  "at 
the  portals  of  the  Middle  Ages,  whence  the  believing 
hosts  of  Christendom  issued  forth  to  the  opposite  ends 
of  the  earth,  till,  at  this  day,  they  do  not  even  under- 
stand each  other's  speech ;  and  here  he  has  set  up  his 
pillar,  bearing  the  inscription  of  unperverted  '  Gospel 
truth.'  " 

Here,  again,  great  scruples  rose  to  my  mind  on 
occasion  of  this  prophetic  survey,  embracing  in  its  uni- 
versal sweep  all  things  behind  and  before.  At  the  very 
outset  we  know  not  what  to  make  of  this  strange  division 
of  the  world,  in  which  there  seems  to  be  as  little  room 
for  the  armies  of  the  faith  that  have  taken  the  field  since 
1550,  as  in  the  compilations  of  his  hymnological  friends 
for  hymns  composed  since  1750.*     Yet  it  appears,  as 

*  This  refers  to  the  circumstance  that  Dr.  Philip  Wackernagel, 
the  well-known  authority  in  ancient  German  literature,  was 
called  upon  by  an  Assembly  of  Delegates  from  the  German  Pro- 
testant Governments,  which  met  at  Eisenach,  in  1852,  to  prepare 
a  collection  of  hymns,  150  in  number,  which  should  contain  all 
the  classical  hymns  in  the  language,  and  should,  if  possible,  be 
introduced  into  the  Protestant  public  worship  throughout  Ger- 
mauy.  Wackernagel,  with  some  pedantry,  restricted  his  selection 
to  hymns  composed  before  1750,  and,  moreover,  gave  their  text 
with  such  merciless  correctness,  that  many  Governments  declared 
that  their  people  would  have  to  sing  what  they  could  not  under- 
stand, and  would,  besides,  have  to  forget  their  favorite  hymns  or 


THE  POSITION  OP  LUTHERANISM.  295 

we  have  seen,  that  of  all  the  Protestant  armies  that 
have  gone  forth  into  the  world  since  the  division  of  the 
two  evangelical  Confessions  in  Germany — therefore  for 
the  last  three  hundred  years — our  new  world-dividing 
Jupiter  has  no  place  for  those  who  seem  to  have  gone 
forth  with  the  highest  faith  and  courage,  because  utterly 
without  State  support,  and  who  certainly  have  fought 
the  hardest,  and  carried  their  arms  the  furthest.  No 
place  for  the  poor  Independents  and  Baptists,  to  say 
nothing  of  smaller  people  like  our  dear  Moravian  breth- 
ren !  These,  according  to  the  instructive  note  (p.  29), 
which  in  some  measure  makes  up  for  the  silence  of  the 
text,  have  only  proceeded  from  the  "  wide-spread  radical 
idea  of  the  Church ;  their  inmost  essence  is  a  turning 
upside-down  of  the  Protestant  principle."  That  is  to 
say,  these  good  people,  from  their  youth  up,  have  known 
very  little  of  the  great  blessing  of  the  Lutherans — a  con- 
sistorial  government ;  and  a  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Coun- 
cil the  poor  creatures  certainly  did  not  even  know  by 
name,  to  say  nothing  of  their  blindness  as  to  "the  miracle 
of  the  altar."  They  knew  nothing  but  their  Bibles,  and 
that  from  this  they  should  have  divined  the  organization 
of  the  primitive  Church  so  much  better  than  it  is  under- 
stood by  our  great  doctor  of  law  (which  can  now-a-days 
no  longer  be  denied)  seems  almost  to  convict  them  of 
forbidden  arts.  But  it  was  just  their  curse  that  they 
laid  so  much  stress  on  the  ancient  rights  of  the  Congre- 
gation. In  issuing  from  the  portals  of  Babel,  they 
carried  with  them  so  little  faith  in  authority  that  they 
became  a  prey  to  the  most  destructive  radicalism,  as 
every  one  knows  who  understands  Stahl's  theory  of 
Divine  Providence.     Now  we,  who  beside  the  Bible 

a  later  date.  Thus,  Wackemagel's  lAederschatz  has  remained  a 
dead  letter. — Tr. 


296  SIGNS  OF  THE. TIMES. 

know  nothing  but  our  catedii8m&,  ca*  at  best  a  ^aatter- 
ing  of  history,  may  have  oor  scruples  as  ta  believing  all 
this ;  still  the  confidence  ef  our  doctor  must  make  some 
impression  even  on  us.  Certainly  it  strikes  the  ''  limited 
understanding"  of  a  member  of  the  Union  as  somewhat 
strange,  that  the  Protestant  Prophet  of  the  Supreme 
Ecclesiastical  Council  should  take  hi&  stand  at  that 
portal  of  the  Middle  Ages  where,  according  to  this 
guide,  a  new  Babylonic  confusion  o£  tongues  took  its 
rise.  Till  then,  it  seems^  men  had  understood  each 
other;  till  1517  they  had  Hved  in  the  unity  of  the  one 
saving  theological  language ;  the  whole  theological  world 
spoke  one  tongue  (and  how  fortunate  for  her,  the  Kom-> 
ish  !);  and,  no  doubt,  all  men  were  as  weB  able  to  under- 
stand each  other  as  they  were  well  oflT  in  every  other 
respect  in  those  good  old  times,  I  should  have  thought^ 
a  good  Protestant,  who,  if  not  a  Lutheran  theologian  of 
that  old  school  to  which  we  have  given  a  little  attention 
above,  is  at  least  a  member  of  the  Protestant  Supreme 
Ecclesiastical  Council  of  Prussia,  would  not  have  taken 
his  stand  at  the  portal  of  the  Middle  Ages^  but  would 
rather  have  knocked  in  humble  fiiith  at  the  door  of  the 
Gospel,  and  taken  the  Word  of  God  as  his  guide  through 
the  history  of  the  world,  so  far  as  it  were  permitted  him 
to  advance  on  this  path.  It  further  gave  me  some 
anxiety,  in  spite  of  all  my  admiratic«i,  that  Dr.  Stahl 
should  cling  so  tightly  to  his  triple  divisic«i  of  the 
Christian  world  at  the  very  time  that  he  was  a  member 
of  the  highest  Council  of  our  United  Prussian  Church, 
whose  avowed  object  is  to  make  two  of  these  bodies  into 
one,  and  not  to  make  one  into  three.  Our  author,  thou^t 
I,  may  indeed  possess  the  secret  of  the  unity  that  is  to 
be  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  but  that  will  hardly  console 
us  for  his  rending  asunder  our  United  National  Church 


TRUTH  THE  SUPREME  OBJECT.  297 

that  now  is :  least  of  all,  if  he  do  so  in  virtue  of  his  office 
as  member  of  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical- Council. 

Free  Scriptural  inquiry,  however,  fares  little  better 
than  the  Union  upon  his  view  of  the  Church ;  and  this 
is,  especially  to  Germans,  a  matter  of  no  small  moment. 
In  the  very  first  paragraph  of  the  long  passage  we  have 
quoted,  he  says : 

"  Even  our  investigation  of  Scripture  proceeds  upon  our  belief 
111  the  unity  of  the  Church ;  for  the  Protestant  principle  of  free 
inquiry,  which  was  first  proclaimed  by  the  German  Reformers, 
we  do  not  understand  and  practice  otherwise  than  in  allegiance  to 
the  reverence  due  to  the  belief  of  centuries,  and  the  testimony  of 
specially  enlightened  men  and  ages." 

In  the  Church,  then,  free  Scriptural  inquiry  is  to  be 
limited  by  reverence.  Nothing  is  more  reasonable,  and 
nothing  more  undisputed.  But  reverence  for  what? 
Surely,  above  all,  reverence  objectively  toward  the 
Scriptures  as  the  Word  of  God,  and  subjectively  toward 
the  inquirer's  own  conscience.  We  may,  perhaps,  desig- 
nate the  two  conjoined  as  reverence  for  the  truth.  Eor 
faith  teaches  us  to  seek  for  truth  in  the  Scriptures,  and 
this  we  can  not  do  otherwise  than  in  a  truthful  spirit ; 
Divine  things  are  understood  by  that  which  is  Divine. 
Hence  the  testimony  of  enlightened  men  and  ages  will 
necessarily  bespeak  our  reverence,  and  "  in  the  faith  of 
centuries"  we  must  earnestly  endeavor  to  discover  that 
which  is  purely  biblical,  as  that  which  is  permanently 
true ;  even  where  we  encounter  mistakes  and  false  exe- 
gesis. In  this  sense  modern  exegesis  has  been  the  first 
to  show  true  reverence  toward  past  centuries,  and  to 
attain  to  a  consciousness  of  the  true  unity  of  the  Church. 
But  we  must  not  reverse  the  process.  If  in  our  investi- 
gation of  Scripture  we  set  before  ourselves,  not  Truth, 
but  the  Unity  of  the  Church-,  as  our  object — if  we  feel 


298  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

ourselves  in  bondage  to  the  belief  of  centuries  and  the 
testimony  of  the  ancient  fathers — we  have  set  out  on  a 
wrong  path,  because  we  are  not  seeking  truth  itself 
And  if  our  orator  has  searched  Scripture  himself,  he, 
too,  knows  that  ''reverence  for  the  faith  of  centuries" 
might  bring  us,  along  with  the  Roman  Inquisitors  and 
Professor  Hengstenberg,   to  the   point  of  persecuting 
Galileo,  denying  the  Divine  facts  and  laws  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  for  this  very  reason  giving  a  thoroughly  per- 
verted interpretation  of  the  Bible — ^nay,  even  bring  us 
into  danger  of  making  shipwreck  of  conscience,  that  is 
to  say,  of  silencing  God's  voice  in  our  souls,  and,  as  far 
as  in  us  lies,  in  the  hearts  of  youth,  and  in  the  Church 
as  well.     The  inquirer  into  Scripture  who  seeks  any 
thing  but  truth,  is  a  hypocrite ;  and  it  is  a  weighty  and 
profound  saying  of  Luther — "  Hypocrites  are  lunatic  in 
their  conscience."     Hence  it  is,  indeed,  a  real  comfort 
to  me  to  believe  that  the  philosopher,  notwithstanding 
the  confidence  with  which  he  propounds  his  formula,  has 
never  drunk  deeply  of  the  original  sources  in  his  inves- 
tigation of  Scripture ;  and  I  am  confirmed  in  this  view 
by  the  reverence  which,   according  to  him,   is  to  be 
exercised  by  and  for  the  sake  of  the  Church,  "  toward 
the  testimony  of  particularly  enlightened  men  and  ages." 
For  no  one  could  speak  thus  who  had  himself  investi- 
gated the  Bible.     The  formula  of  the  Puseyites,  that 
the  Bible  is  to  be  interpreted  in  accordance  with  "what 
has  been  believed  always,  everywhere,  and  by  all,"  says 
nothing.     But  if  the  orator  more  especially  means  rever- 
ence toward  the  Scriptural  interpretations  of  the  Fathers 
of  the  Protestant  faith,  with  them  as  he  himself  acknowl- 
edges, the  principle  of  freedom  stands  above  all  their 
expositions.     And  how  will  he  justify  Luther's  revolt 
against  "the  faith  of  centuries  ?" 


•    DOUBTS  AND  SCRUPLES.  299 

I  hope  that  Dr.  Stahl  still  believes  in  science,  and 
does  not  wish  that  our  youth  should  be  trained  up  to 
hypocrisy ;  that  is  to  say,  I  hope  he  does  not  wish  to 
sow  unbelief  right  and  left  ?  But  his  rule  of  Scriptural 
interpretation  for  the  Church  necessarily  leads  to  such  a 
result,  and  is  already  turned  to  advantage  for  party 
ptirposes,  unless  we  refuse  credence  to  notorious  facts. 
How,  if  in  examining  and  appointing  candidates  for  the 
ministry,  their  confessional  tendencies  are  the  chief 
point  of  inquiry,  rather  than  then-  abilities  and  general 
religious  character?  How,  if  confessionalistic  profess- 
ors of  Protestant  theology,  and  therefore  exegesis,  are 
sought  for  and  appointed?  We  know  the  Lutheran 
names  and  achievements  in  this  department  of  learning, 
from  Hengstenberg  and  his  absurd  exposition  of  the 
Song  of  Solomon,  up  to  Dietlein  and  Otto,  and  the 
latest  zealots  for  the  pure  Aramaic  accent  of  Balaam's 
ass.  All  this  would,  however,  be-  recommended  to  us 
out  of  reverence  for  the  faith  of  centuries. 

Such  grave  doubts  as  these  rose  up  to  my  mind,  in 
addition  to  those  I  have  already  expressed,  on  perusing 
this  admirable  work  of  art.  Thus,  at  length,  I  was 
irresistibly  led  to  ask  the  critical  preliminary  question : 
Is  our  author,  then,  really  in  earnest  in  his  whole  view 
of  the  question,  and  not  merely  playing  a  dangerous 
game  with  words  ?  and,  above  all,  can  there  be  any 
truth  in  his  view  ?  Now  that  we  may  consider  this  in 
all  seriousness  and  candor,  and  in  one  mode  or  other 
come  to  learn  what  we  so  much  need  to  know,  I  will  be- 
gin by  laying  before  you  this  concluding  portion  of 
Stahl's  discourse,  just  as  it  stands,  omitting  merely 
some  erudition  touching  the  eternal  order  of  God's  Provi- 
dence, which  is  beside  our  present  purpose,  and  which 
we  may,  perhaps,  find  a  more  suitable  opportunity  of 


300  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

noticing  before  long.     Thus  reads  the  artistic  peroraticm 
of  the  discourse : 

"  To  speak  only  according  to  human  insight  on  this  subject,  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  has  her  special  mission  in  the  kingdom 
of  God.  Despite  her  obscuration  of  the  central  doctrine  of 
salvation,  despite  the  tincture  of  legality  and  scholasticism  which 
runs  through  her  dogmas  and  institutions,  and  whatever  else  we 
may  find  to  censure  in  her,  she  represents  the  exalted  aspect  of 
the  historical  continuity  of  Christianity,  of  the  unbroken  course 
of  development  from  the  apostolic  to  the  present  time ;  and  it  is 
not  to  be  measured  what  now  visible  blessings,  and  what  yet 
concealed  seeds  of  blessing,  are  contained  in  this.  *  *  * 
Side  by  side  with  Luther's  Reformation,  that  of  Calvin  had  also 
its  mission  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  That  which,  indeed,  the 
Reformed  Church  itself  boasts  of  as  its  greatest  glory — ^its  much 
sharper  antagonism  to  the  Mediaeval  Church,  from  which  most  of 
its  distinguishing  tenets  proceed — we,  as  Lutherans,  can  not  pos- 
sibly recognize  to  be  an  excellence.  But  Calvin  gives  us  the 
complement  of  the  Reformation  on  the  side  of  religious  morality, 
in  the  sanctification  of  the  congregation,  and  the  building  up  of 
a  self-contained  world  of  Christian  ordinances  and  life  frcwn  the 
inmost  center  of  the  Hving  faith  of  the  Congregation.  A  pro- 
found fear  of  God  maintained  inviolate,  an  energetic  Christianity 
molding  the  life,  these  are  the  blessings  that  issued  from 
Calvin's  work,  and  are  to  this  day  fertilizing  Western  Europe  and 
America.  And  how  should  we,  of  all  men,  fail  to  recognize  the 
mission  of  Luther  ? — above  all,  his  insight  into  the  deepest  rpys- 
tery  and  firmest  pledge  of  our  redemption,  in  the  blending  of  the 
divine  with  the  human,  of  the  spiritual  and  natural,  in  the  person 
of  Christ,  and  in  his  Sacrament,  that  fountain  of  perfect  consola- 
tion, as  of  inward  piety,  Christian  freedom,  and  the  right  mean 
between  extremes.  *  *  *  In  all  this  I  merely  utter  facts. 
But  if  we  can  thus,  even  with  our  human  vision,  recognize 
such  a  special  mission  in  each  of  these  confessions,  how  much 
more  may  we  have  a  dim  forecasting  of  their  mutual  coherence 
in  one  Divine,  though  to  us,  inscrutable  economy  ?     *     *     * 

"  But  CathoHcity,  in  this  sense,  is  the  final  seal  and  highest 
norm  of  toleration.  From  it  flows,  not  only  the  recognition  of 
the  members  of  other  confessions  as  the  children  of  God,  but 


VATICINATIONS.  301 

the  recognition  of  these  confessions  themselves  as  messengers 
from  God.  And  the  recognition  and  favoring  of  each  confession 
by  the  State  will  be  measured  by  the  degree  of  error  by  which 
it  overshadows  its  Divine  commission.  According  to  this,  genuine 
tolerance  does  not  consist  in  mutual  surrender  and  adjustment  of 
differences  on  the  part  of  the  various  confessions,  but  rather  that 
the  members  of  each  should  only  renounce  error,  and  for  the 
rest  fulfill  their  own  special  mission  with  the  utmost  energy, 
while  at  the  same  time  recognizing  that  of  their  brethren,  and 
adopting  their  excellences  so  far  as  may  be.  No  mutual  sur- 
render, except  of  error,  but  a  mutual  adoption  of  each  other's 
truths,  until  we  attain  to  a  perfect  communion,  is  the  path  of  true 
progress.     *     *     * 

"  At  the  time  of  our  Lord's  advent  there  was  at  Jerusalem  a 
kind  of  men,  such  as  Simeon  and  Anna,  who  waited  for  the 
salvation  in  Israel.  They  were  no  less  true  to  the  law  than  the 
Pharisees — ^they  were  true  to  the  existing  faith  in  its  perishable 
as  well  as  in  its  imperishable  aspect.  But  their  aspiration  was 
directed  toward  a  much  higher  good,  and  therefore  it  was  granted 
to  them  to  behold  it. 

"  So  is  it  with  us.  The  expectation  of  a  future  salvation  in  the 
fullness  of  its  truth  and  glory,  which  is  exalted  far  above  all 
earthly  Churches,  is  of  all  things  most  fitted  to  make  us  tolerant ; 
but  it  makes  us  tolerant  in  fidelity  toward  Divine  truth,  in  fidelity 
toward  the  Church  I"     *     *     * 

Now,  my  respected  friend,  we  shall  certainly  both 
unite  in  rejoicing  that  our  orator  has  at  last  found  some- 
thing able  to  make  him  and  his  friends  tolerant.  But 
we  would  fain  be  satisfied  respecting  one  point — what 
"kind"  of  tolerance  it  may  be.  As  eighteen  hundred 
years  ago  in  Jerusalem,  so  now  there  exists  not  far  from 
Bethany,  a  "kind"  of  men  who  are  waiting  for  the 
salvation  in  Israel,  but  refuse  to  believe  that  it  is  already 
come,  and  desire  to  remain  thus,  without  doing  any 
thing  to  bring  it  to  pass.  They  choose  to  refer  to  the 
millennium,  or  to  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the  next  world, 
what  we  poor  Bible  Christians  and  laics  of  our  United 


302  SiaXS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

National  Church,  not  only  desire  for  the  Christian  State 
of  the  present,  but  what  we,  relying  on  the  Gospel,  our 
Constitution,  and  the  word  of  our  King,  think  we  have 
a  right  to  call  ours  already,  in  the  secure  possession  of 
that  freedom  for  which  poor  European  humanity,  under 
many  a  sore  oppression,  longs  and  pines  on  her  bed  of 
pain  !  And  in  this  point  of  view  no  particular  confi- 
dence is  inspired  by  the  circumstance,  that  in  the  great 
Lutheran  partition  of  the  world  at  the  portals  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  all  our  orator's  affection  seems  to  be  re- 
served for  the  Romish  Church,  and  little,  if  any,  left 
for  the  Reformed.  For  when  I  remember  the  many 
points  of  advantage  which  the  Lutherans,  and  now  it 
seems  the  Catholics  too,  have  over  them — ^the  Luther- 
ans, the  possession  of  the  central  truth — the  Catholics, 
the  ''consciousness  of  apostolical  succession,"  while  both 
together  have  such  great  blessings,  and  the  Church  of 
Rome  more  expressly  so  much  hidden  seed  for  the 
future,  in  the  eye  of  our  seer  of  the  course  of  Provi- 
dence— I  am  involuntarily  reminded  of  the  prophet 
Balaam,  when  it  is  coldly  conceded  that  the  blessing  of 
the  Reformed  Church  consists  in  the  sanctification  of  the 
believers.  Yes,  truly,  he  came  to  curse  like  Balaam, 
and  he  has  left  a  blessing!  I,  at  least,  thought  that  the 
sanctification  of  the  Congregation  was  called  in  the 
Gospel  and  in  the  apostolic  Epistles  (and,  as  our  orator 
undoubtedly  knows,  also  in  the  Old  Testament),  the 
proper  aim  and  final  end  of  the  decree  of  God's  love  for 
mankind,  and  the  great  object  to  be  striven  after  in  every 
true  Church. 

And  now  what  shall  we  say  to  his  mysterious  hints 
of  an  approximation  to  the  Catholic  Church  (which  far 
outstrip  the  irenic  dreams  and  fancies  of  the  younger 


THE  HIERARCHY  THE  ONLY  FOE.  303 

Thiersch),*  and  the  providential  destiny  of  the  Romish 
hierarchy  (for  that  is  the  Catholic  Church  as  a  Govern- 
ment) for  the  future  !  And  all  this  in  the  face  of  the 
struggle  in  Baden  in  the  West,  and  the  Austrian  Con- 
cordat in  the  East,  and  the  revival  of  the  Jesuit  train- 
ing-schools in  Prussia  itself,  and  the  persecution  of 
Protestants  on  the  part  of  this  same  Church,  so  replete 
with  open  and  secret  blessings,  and  the  consciousness  of 
the  apostolical  succession  !  As  regards  the  peaceable 
relations  of  German  Catholics  and  Protestants,  or  indeed 
of  Catholic  and  Protestant  populations  in  general,  the 
orator  need  be  under  no  apprehension  :  we  dwell  side  by 
side,  and  carry  on  intercourse  in  perfect  peace,  and  ask 
for  nothing  more  than  to  be  allowed  to  do  so.  But  the 
question  at  issue  does  not  concern  the  Catholics,  but  the 
Catholic  Church  :  that  is  to  say,  the  Romish  hierarchy 
on  the  one  side,  and  the  Protestant  people  of  Christ,  with 
or  without  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Counsellors,  on  the 
other.  And  let  our  author  at  least  remember  this  for 
the  future. 

Certainly,  therefore,  my  respected  friend,  it  troubles 
me  greatly  to  find  so  much  in  this  ideal  prophetic  sur- 
vey of  the  past  and  future,  which  I  am  utterly  unable  to 
understand.  How  gladly  would  I  learn  the  truth  on 
such  sublime  themes  !  But,  once  for  all,  I  must  be  con- 
tent to  endure  my  ignorance ;  for  when  I  look  at  the 
misery  of  the  present,  the  anxieties  that  fill  the  souls  of 
so  many  faithful  Christians,  the  perplexities  that  beset 

*  The  M.  Thiersch  referred  to  above  is  the  son  of  the  famous 
Professor  of  Greek,  at  Munich,  and  a  member  of  the  Church 
founded  by  the  late  Edward  Irving.  The  expression  "irenic 
dreams"  refers  to  some  views  which  he  holds  with  regard  to  a 
universal  reconciliation  between  Christian  Churches,  specially  in- 
cluding the  Romish. — Tr. 


804  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

men's  consciences,  the  dangers  of  our  country,  the  crit- 
ical position  of  the  whole  world,  the  overwhelming  issues 
hanging  on  the  present  crisis,  I  avow,  my  friend,  that 
the  most  serious  investigation  of  the  truth  affecting  the 
past  and  the  future,  ought  to  sink  into  insignificance  in 
comparison  with  the  duty  of  love  toward  the  community 
in  which  we  are  placed,  and  for  .which  it  is  our  calling 
to  live  and  die. 

Henceforward,  then,  I  forsake  the  subject,  grand  and 
sacred  though  it  be,  of  that  true  moral  government  of 
the  world  in  which  we  and  all  good  Germans  believe, 
and  always  have  believed,  and  turn  to  naked  reality — 
to  this  present  time — so  full  of  troubles,  and  yet,  to  con- 
fess it  plainly,  so  rich  in  hope  and  life. 

Here  we  find  a  point  of  controversy,  on  which,  in  the 
interests  of  true  peace,  we  can  not  lay  too  great  stress. 
It  may  thus  be  expressed.  Who  is  in  possession  of  the 
right  ?  the  one  united  Evangelical  National  Church  of 
Prussia  (and  not  of  Prussia  only),  or  the  Lutherans 
who  have  refused  to  come  into  it  ?  Have  we  really  one 
Church  or  three?  And  how  does  the  administrative 
system  of  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  comport 
with  Stahl's  principles,  as  expressed  in  this  oration  and 
elsewhere,  but  more  especially  in  his  official  character  ? 
The  point  at  issue  may,  however,  according  to  my  view, 
be  more  succinctly  and  simply  expressed  thus  for  those 
who  will  not  misunderstand  it.  Do  we  set  before  us  as 
our  object,  Bible  faith  and  evangelical  life  within  one 
national  Church  possessing  this  faith  and  practicing  this 
life,  or  scholastic  belief  in  creeds  and  Church  formularies 
within  three  Churches?  This  brings  us  to  the  point 
which  I  indicated  at.  the  commencement  of  this  letter  : 
we  have  entered  on  the  domain  of  reality,  and  the  social 
conditions  now  existing,  or  in  process  of  formation.    But 


FACTS  AND  DOCUMENTS.  305 

we  shall  certainly  best  find  our  way  by  keeping  closely 
to  a  documentary  historical  representation  of  facts,  ac- 
cording to  which  the  conscience  of  our  jury,  that  is  to 
say,  the  reading  public  of  the  religious  world,  and  in 
particular  our  German  evangelical  fellow-believers,  will 
decide. 

We  will  therefore,  in  the  first  place,  present  to  your 
consideration  the  legal  decisions  afiecting  the  Union  to 
the  best  of  the  ''limited  understanding"  of  a  Christian 
man.  With  this  view  I  have  given,  in  the  Appendix, 
the  only  four  documents  by  which  the  point  of  law  must 
be  determined — ^namely,  two  edicts  of  the  late,  and  two- 
of  the  reigning  monarch.     They  are  the  following  : 

A.  181 T.  Proclamation  of  Frederic  William  III.,  of 
the  2Tth  of  September. 

B.  1834.  Cabinet  Edict  of  the  28th  of  February. 

C.  1852.         ''         ''         "        6th  of  March. 

D.  1853.         "         "         "      12th  of  July. 

To  these  legal  documents  I  have  added  the  King's  re- 
ply, just  published,  and  dated  October  11th,  1853,  to 
some  pastors  of  Wittenberg,  and  the  Union  Confession 
of  the  General  Synod  of  1846.  This  Confession  has  not, 
indeed,  obtained  any  legal  force,  still  it  carries  the  not 
inconsiderable  weight  of  an  act  of  faith  of  that  great 
assembly;  and  an  Anglican  dignitary  and  theologian 
equally  remarkable  for  his  faith,  learning,  and  genius 
(alas !  lately  snatched  from  us  by  death),  Julius  Hare, 
has  aptly  said  of  it,  that  it  was  the  grandest  Confession 
of  Faith  ever  framed  by  any  Church  in  Christendom. 

The  legal  decisions  and  declarations  reach,  therefore, 
up  to  October,  1853.  Since  that  epoch,  we  have  as  yet 
received  no  documentary  communications  respecting  the 
proceedings  of  the  supreme  board  -of  administration.  It 
was  the  mode  in  which  the  first  royal  decree  of  the  6th 


306  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

March,  1852,  was  carried  into  effect,  which  excited  such 
universal  apprehension  and  grave  doubts  throughout  the 
country,  that  the  King  was  induced  to  put  forth  the 
second  decree ;  and  it  is  only  the  way  in  which  the  lat- 
ter has  been  carried  out  that  we  shall  have  to  consider, 
after  taking  a  historical  view  of  the  legal  ordinances. 

We  shall  confine  ourselves  to  the  documents  them- 
selves, and  the  prominent  facts  connected  with  the  car- 
rying out  of  the  Union  from  1817  to  1852.  On  the 
right  understanding  of  this  main  point  must  depend  the 
general  verdict  pronounced  by  public  opinion,  and  the 
final  achievement  of  this  great  enterprise. 

Besides  Nitzsch's  collection  of  documents  relating  to 
the  evangelical  Union,  with  his  apostolical  preface,  1853, 
we  possess  the  profound  work  of  his  worthy  spiritual 
brother,  Julius  Miiller,  The  Evangelical  Unioii^  its 
Essence,  and  its  Divine  Right  (1854).  We  have 
also  two  very  valuable  historical  accounts  of  this  epoch 
— one  in  Hess^s  Church  History  (9th  edition,  1855), 
and  another  in  the  work  of  the  same  author,  entitled 
The  Evangelical  Protestant  Church  of  the  German 
Empire  (2d  edition,  1852),  and  a  third  in  Gieseler's 
last  volume  of  Church  History,  which  has  just  appeared. 
To  these  we  must  add  Schenkel's  excellent  book  on  the 
Vocation  to  Union  of  German  Protestantism,  which 
has  come  out  in  the  present  year.  With  the  views 
enunciated  by  these  writers,  I  find  myself  in  perfect 
agreement  as  regards  the  main  point;  still,  in  some 
respects,  the  history  of  the  Union,  as  given  by  them, 
remains  incomplete,  and  sometimes  is  mixed  up  with 
other  subjects  ;  and  finally,  none  of  these  works  furnish 
the  documents,  an  acquaintance  with  which  appears  to  me 
indispensable  to  the  forming  of  an  independent  judg- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  laity  at  large.     Some  state- 


WORKS  ON  THE  UNIOK  307 

ments,  too,  of  Gieseler,  relative  to  the  part  personally 
taken  by  Frederic  William  III.  in  this  work  are 
neither  complete  nor  quite  correct.  Eylert's  account 
in  his  book  upon  Frederic  William  III.,  is  that  of  a 
gossiping  unintelligent  old  man,  but  it  is  in  the  main 
point  historically  true.  The  King  has  given  a  very 
simple  and  unvarnished  picture  of  himself  in  his  book, 
Luther.  He  was  no  author,  but  he  was  a  Christian 
and  a  King ;  and  as  such,  has  not  as  yet  received  his 
due  meed  of  honor  from  history. 

I  begin,  therefore,  with  the  historical  account  of  the 
origin  of  the  Union,  and  proceed  from  that  to  a  review 
of  the  legal  acts,  and  their  execution,  up  to  the  pro- 
mulgation of  the  Second  Cabinet  Edict  of  the  reigning 
King. 


HISTORY    OP    THE    UNION 


When,  in  the  year  1814,  after  heavy  trials  and 
arduous  conflicts,  Frederic  William  III.  visited  En- 
gland, an  idea  ripened  within  him  which  had  slum- 
bered in  his  breast  ever  since  1808.  There,  for  the 
first  time,  he  beheld  the  Protestant  Church  under  a 
form  worthy  of  her :  at  once  national  and  conservative — 
honored,  yet  moderate — full  of  belief,  yet  liberal  in 
practice.  In  the  English  Liturgy  he  found  a  service 
animated  by  a  spirit  of  piety,  and  calculated  to  exert  a 
living  influence  over  its  hearers,  while  it  efiectually  ac- 
complished the  object  of  assigning  to  prayer  its  due  share 
in  public  worship. 

The  first  plan  preparatory  to  a  union  of  the  two  Pro- 
testant Churches  of  Germany,  and  a  common  liturgy  for 
their  use,  were  sketched  in  St.  James's  Palace,  and  were 
the  fruit  solely  of  his  own  inward  impulses.  Ere  long, 
but  after  an  interval  filled  up  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna 
and  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  came  the  Tricentenary  Fes- 
tival of  the  Reformation  in  1817.  What  an  event  for  a 
Hohenzoller  and  King  of  Prussia !  In  virtue  of  its  own 
history  and  that  of  the  country,  it  had  become  the  hered- 
itary vocation  of  this  dynasty  to  labor  for  the  removal 
of  the  lamentable  divisions  between  the  two  Protestant 
Confessions  :  the  house  of  Hohenzoller,  originally  Lu- 
theran, had  gone  o-ver  to  the  Reformed  Church  shortly 
before  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  the  personal  religion 


^  THE  KING'S  IDEA.  809 

of  all  the  reigning  princes  had  borne  strong  traces  of  this 
latter  type.  But  the  Protestant  population  of  the  six 
eastern  provinces  belonged  almost  exclusively  to  the 
Lutheran  Confession,  while  in  Westphalia  and  the 
Rhine  Provinces  the  Reformed  element  predominated. 

From  the  days  of  Melancthon,  thoughtful  princes, 
with  good  and  wise  theologians,  such  as  Calixt  and 
Spener,  and,  above  all,  the  great  Leibnitz,  had  been 
rolling  the  stone  of  Sisyphus,  in  the  vain  attempt  to 
reach  Christian  concord  by  the  path  of  theological  dis- 
cord. For  in  endeavoring  to  bring  scholastic  theologians 
to  an  agreement  about  their  systems  of  thought,  they  at 
once  paid  homage  to  the  unhappy  delusion  of  Byzantium 
and  Rome,  which  places  the  life  and  creed  of  the  Con- 
gregation in  these  abstract  formulas  of  an  imperfect  phil- 
osophy ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  did  violence  both  to  this 
philosophy  itself  and  to  the  religious  feelings  which  had 
entwined  themselves  around  it.  The  grandeur  and  his- 
torical significance  of  the  work  achieved  by  Frederic 
William  III.  consists  in  the  fact  of  his  having  perceived 
that  this  way  was  utterly  false,  and  resolved  that  it 
should  be  given  up.  Why,  thought  he,  should  not  the 
Protestant  National  Church  exhibit  her  unity  by  a  com- 
mon worship  and  organization  ?  What  belief  there  re- 
mained, either  among  the  people  or  the  learned,  did  not 
take  the  hue  of  a  particular  confession,  but  of  simple 
personal  piety.  There  was  no  need  for  Lutherans  to  go 
over  to  the  Reformed  Church,  nor  the  Reformed  to  the 
Lutheran ;  the  question  should  be  simply  put  to  them — 
''  Will  you  leave  your  differing  theological  notions  con- 
cerning the  Sacrament*  to  the  schools  and  the  learned 

*  The  extreme  form  of  the  doctrine  of  election  had  never  be- 
come an  authoritative  doctrine  of  tfte  Reformed  Church  in  Q-er- 
many. 


310  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

when  you  go  to  the  table  of  the  Lord,  and  when  you  are 
called  to  common  action  as  a  Church  ?  In  other  words, 
— would  you  not  rather  constitute  a  National  Protestant 
Church,  and  live  under  one  ecclesiastical  organization, 
than  persist  in  a  division  which  has  borne  such  bitter 
fruits  ?  You  will  be  at  liberty  to  use  the  Lutheran  or 
the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  or  one  in  which  your  peculiar 
points  of  difference  are  kept  in  the  background  and 
softened  down ;  you  will  be  at  liberty  to  preach  accord- 
ing to  whichever  form  of  doctrine  your  conscience  dic- 
tates—the one  Lutheran  the  other  Reformed,  a  third 
chiefly  in  the  spirit  of  the  form  of  agreement  which  may 
be  hereafter  adopted  ;  but  you  must  refrain  from  all  con- 
demnation of  your  brethren,  and  all  attacks  upon  the 
other  forms  of  doctrine  admitted  within  the  pale  of  the 
Union.  This  work  shall  be  sealed  by  a  Union  Liturgy, 
which  shall  keep  as  closely  as  possible  to  Scripture,  and 
by  a  united  church  government.  A  purely  evangelical 
celebration  of  the  Sacrament  will  unite  you  as  brethren 
in  faith  and  love  in  one  worship — a  common  constitution, 
a  single  ecclesiastical  body."  This  is  a  tolerably  faith- 
ful representation  of  the  idea  of  Frederic  William  III. 

I  have  purposely  used  the  term  ecclesiastical  constitu- 
tion, not  merely  church  government.  At  that  time  the 
Bang  still  cherished  a  strong  predilection  for  constitu- 
tional congregational  self-development  in  the  Church  as 
well  as  in  the  State.  This  is  evinced  by  his  ordinance 
of  1816,  which  prescribes  that  presbyters,  i.  e.,  elders, 
shall  be  chosen  by  each  congregation,  who,  with  the  pas- 
tors, shall  form  the  Provincial  Synod,  in  which  lay  el- 
ders shall  sit  with  the  clergy.  In  this  manner  did 
Frederic  William  III.  begin  the  greatest  work  of  his 
reign — perhaps,  of  this  century.  That  he  did  not  enter 
on  it  without  a  grave  sense  of  its  importance  and  scope, 


APPEAL  OP  THE   KIXG.  311 

is  unmistakably  shown  by  his  proclamation  of  the  27th 
of  September,  1817,  which  may  be  termed  the  "  Appeal 
of  the  King  to  his  Protestant  people,"  and  which  forms 
the  first  document  appended  to  this  letter. 

The  King  announces  to  his  subjects  that  it  is  his  inten- 
tion on  the  jubilee  of  the  Reformation  (30th  of  October, 
1817),  to  assemble  in  his  Church,  at  Potsdam,  the  Re- 
formed and  Lutheran  congregations  of  that  place,  and  in 
this  united  congregation  to  receive  the  Sacrament.  The 
appeal  which  follows  this  announcement  may  be  thus 
briefly  summed  up  :  Let  every  one  who  can  and  will  fol- 
low" my  example,  in  faith,  do  so,  as  an  act  of  faith  and 
love,  in  thankfulness  toward  God,  and  it  will  be  a  work 
rich  in  blessing. 

The  King  adds  in  explanation : 

"  By  the  proposed  union  of  the  two  Churches,  the  Re- 
formed will  not  go  over  to  the  Lutheran,  nor  vice  versa, 
but  both  will  become  a  revivified,  evangelical  Christian 
Church,  in  the  spirit  of  its  holy  Founder." 

With  theology  our  wise  and  pious  King  would  not 
meddle : 

^^  To  the  wise  guidance  of  the  Consistories,  to  the 
pious  zeal  of  the  clergy  and  their  Synods,  I  commit  the 
outward  form  of  the  agreement  to  be  entered  into,  as- 
sured that  the  congregation  will "  willingly  follow  their 
proper  leaders." 

He  himself  prescribes  no  ritual  whatever,  but  declares, 
his  conviction 

'•  That  if  only  the  eye  be  directed  in  earnestness  and 
sincerity,  and  clear  from  all  interested  views,  to  what  is 
essential — to  the  great  and  holy  cause  itself — a  form  will 
readily  be  found ;  and  thus  the  outward  shape  will  spon- 
taneously spring  forth  from  the  inward  essence,  and  as- 
sume a  simple  and  dignified  aspect." 


312  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

The  whole  body  of  the  Berlin  clergy,  with  Schleier- 
macher  at  their  head,  responded  to  the  King's  "  Appeal" 
with  a  declaration  and  proposals,  breathing  at  once 
Christian  earnestness  and  Protestant  liberality,  and  their 
example  was  soon  followed  by  the  country  at  large.  In 
fact  the  King's  project  was  so  entirely  in  harmony  with 
the  wants  of  the  times,  that  in  a  few  years  the  move- 
ment in  favor  of  a  Union  spread  throughout  the  whole 
of  Germany,  except  where  it  was  checked  by  the  higher 
powers.  The  gifted  and  sagacious  historian,  Karl  Hase, 
has  said  with  great  truth,  "  The  Union  fell  into  the 
King's  hand  like  a  ripe  fruit."  If,  now-a-days,  ill-in- 
formed adherents  of  the  Junker  party,  and  extreme  re- 
actionaries, see,  or  pretend  to  see,  in  this  willingness  to 
meet  on  a  common  ground,  nothing  but  ungodly  indif- 
ference, this  is  simply  a  proof  that  they  have  no  con- 
ception of  the  purely  evangelical  and  undogmatic  hue  of 
the  piety  of  that  day,  nor  yet  of  the  arduous  mental 
struggles  which  Christians  had  undergone  in  coming  to 
a  conviction  of  the  mischiefs  of  having  these  distinctive 
creeds  imposed  upon  them.  It  was  not  indifference  to 
the  symbolical  books,  but  a  Gospel  faith  that  had  been 
tried  by  sorrows,  and  exalted  by  stupendous  historical 
events,  which  made  it  possible  for  the  King  to  carry  out 
what  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  the  father  and 
grandfather  of  the  great  Federic  even  to  attempt.  The 
IJnion  came  to  pass  spontaneously,  as  Leibnitz  had 
prophesied  long  before.  It  is  true  that  the  most  power- 
ful thinkers  of  the  age  joined  the  King  in  wishing  for  a 
combination  and  gradual  coalescence  of  the  two  Confes- 
sions, but  they  only  wished  it  in  the  sense  of  an  earnest 
evangelical  faith.  Those  shallow  writers  are  even  less 
aware  of  the  fact  that  the  relaxation  of  the  rigid  chains 
of  those  theological  creeds  which  have  cost  Germany 


SPIRIT  OF  THIS  APPEAL.  313 

her  place  in  Europe,  torn  her  asunder,  and  well-nigh 
reduced  her  to  slavery,  was  the  safetj-valve  which 
preserved  thinking  people  from  utter  skepticism  and 
despair,  and  the  members  of  our  Church  from  the  con- 
vulsive throes  of  politico-social  revolutions. 

Frederic  William  III.  was  the  representative  of  the 
sentiments  thus  shared  by  the  noblest  and  best  of  our 
teachers  and  thinkers,  as  the  personification  of  Christian 
common  sense ;  and  he  was  adopted  as  their  leader,  even 
by  Churches  which  were  not  subject  to  his  scepter,  and 
as  their  exemplar  by  independent  Governments.  The 
great  fundamental  idea  of  his  Appeal  was  as  little  secta- 
rian as  it  was  inconsistent  with  churchmanship.  This  is 
proved  by  the  remarkable  sentence  with  which  it  con- 
cludes, and  which  was  uttered  in  a  spirit  of  sincere  faith 
untinged  by  proselytism  :  "  May  that  promised  era  be 
not  far  distant,  when  all  shall  be  gathered  under  one 
shepherd  into  one  fold,  with  one  faith,  one  hope,  one 
love."  But  certainly  from  the  very  beginning  the  diffi- 
culty was  evident  of  bringing  about  a  new  embodiment 
of  spiritual  life  without  the  active  co-operation  of  an 
independent  Congregation,  and  without  a  strengthening 
of  personal  faith.  The  course  taken  by  the  King  was 
by  no  means  simply  negative  and  latitudinarian ;  for 
brotherhood  in  the  Union  must  strengthen  our  grasp 
of  the  fundamental  conceptions  of  Protestantism — ^the 
supreme  authority  of  the  Bible  above  all  creeds,  and 
justification  by  faith  (therefore,  subjectively,  by  virtue 
of  a  temper  of  trust  and  willing  self-surrender),  and 
likewise  our  faith  in  the  chief  doctrines  flowing  from 
these  first  principles,  concerning  the  Law  and  the  Gos- 
pel, this  world  and  the  next- 
While,  however,  the  King  felt  that  the  Union  could 
not  be  consolidated  without  the  two  positive  and  practical 


314  SIG^NS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

bases  of  a  Liturgy  and  Ccmstitution,  the  idea  of  the  lat- 
ter was  somewhat  obscured  in  his  mind  during  the  period 
from  1820  to  1822,  by  the  insurrections  in  Spain  and 
Italy,  and  by  the  "  Burschenschaften^^  among  the  stu- 
dents and  their  proceedings  at  the  Wartburg.  We  musty 
however,  state  the  simple  historical  truth,  and  what  con- 
tributed still  more  to  this  result,  was  the  purely  abso- 
lutistic  and  aggressive  attitude  which  the  closely  allied 
Imperial  Courts  of  Russia  and  Austria  assumed  toward 
liberty  in  general,  and  which  they  induced  him  to  assume 
also,  to  some  extent,  by  means  of  the  Holy  Alliance. 
This  reacted  upon  the  question  of  the  Union,  as  was 
shown  by  the  fact  that  the  Decree  of  1816,  respecting 
the  establishment  of  presbyteries  in  the  congregation,,  in 
order  to  the  election  of  mixed  synods,  was  never  carried 
into  execution.  During  the  following  years  there  was 
no  want  of  efforts  to  induce  the  King  to  take  further 
steps  in  the  matter,  but  age  had  indisposed  him  to  stir 
and  change,  and  his  experience  with  regard  to  the  intro- 
duction of  a  Liturgy  had  irritated  him,  and  rendered 
him  mistrustful. 

The  commission  which  he  appointed,  so  early  as  the 
year  1814,  to  deliberate  on  a  Liturgy,  after  long  official 
correspondence  and  discussions,  at  last  succeeded  in 
framing  a  scheme,  according  to  which  the  first  Union- 
service  was  held  in  Potsdam,  on  the  30th  of  October, 
1819.  With  a  few  remarks,  Schleiermacher  easily 
demonstrated  its  practical  inefficiency.  It  is  not  true 
that  this  scheme  was  the  King's  own  production.  It 
was  only  after  its  failure  that  the  King  took  the  work 
into  his  own  hands,  with  the  resolve  to  keep  closely  to 
the  Liturgies  framed  by  the  Reformers,  or  rather  to 
their  modifications  of  the  order  of  the  mass,  which  were 
brought  into  provisional  use  in  the  different  provinces  of 


THE  FRAMING  OF  THE  LITURGY.  315 

the  country  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries, 
and  had  never  been  legally  abolished,  but  only  fallen 
into  desuetude.  He  caused  these  Liturgies  and  rubrics 
to  be  laid  before  him,  and  a  short  comparative  review  of 
them  to  be  prepared  in  the  Cabinet  itself  After  he  had 
thus  made  himself  personally  master  of  their  contents, 
he,  with  the  assistance  and  advice  of  a  few  clergymen  in 
his  confidence,  compiled  from  them  the  "Agenda  for  the 
Cathedral  and  Royal  Chapel  at  Berlin,"  which  appeared 
in  1821.  The  result  was  a  simple  order  of  worship 
which,  in  substance,  corresponded  to  those  older  forms, 
though  certainly  not  without  some  errors  and  onesided- 
ness. 

If  this  production,  unsatisfactory  and  incomplete  as  it 
could  not  fail  to  be,  had  issued  from  the  deliberation  of  a 
Synod  in  which  the  Congregation  was  represented,  and 
had  been  put  into  the  hands  of  the  people  as  a  supple- 
ment to  the  Hymn-book,  it  would  have  been  as  welcome 
as  the  ''Appeal  to  the  Union."  But  appearing  thus,  as 
the  production  of  a  military  Cabinet  and  Court  clergy, 
it  was  regarded  as  something  alien  tind  unprotestant,  and 
was  received  with  decided  mistrust.  Congregational 
singing  and  the  sermon,  the  two  vital  elements  of  the 
evangelical  worship,  certainly  seemed  about  to  be  thrown 
into  the  background.  The  Agenda  was  a  book  for  the 
clergy,  and  not  put  into  the  hands  of  the  people  at  all. 
The  order  for  public  worship  bore  no  popular  name,  but 
the  foreign,  hierarchical-sounding  title  of  a  ''  Liturgy." 
It  was  "performed"  without  a  pause  by  a  choir,  also 
not  a  thing  of  native  growth ;  and  a  short  sermon,  with- 
out preface,  formed  a  kind  of  appendix  to  it.  As  to  the 
feeling  of  its  foreign  character,  it  did  not  even  remind 
the  hearer  of  the  Common  Prayer-book  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  but  rather  suggested  a  comparison  with  the 


316  SIGNS   OF  THE  TIMES. 

military  Russian  Liturgy,  which  had  made  a  deep 
impression  on  the  King.  Finally,  the  people  were 
predisposed  to  regard  any  thing  emanating  from  the 
Government  with  undue  suspicion,  by  their  political 
dissatisfaction  at  the  attitude  assumed  by  the  three 
Northern  Powers  toward  the  constitutional  aspirations 
of  the  peoples  of  Southern  Europe  and  the  legal  consti- 
tutional development  of  Prussia  and  Germany. 

The  difficulties  that  beset  its  introduction  were  over- 
come in  the  course  of  the  next  few  years  by  the  firmness 
of  the  King,  by  the  personal  confidence  felt  in  his  just 
moderation  and  freedom  from  all  narrow  pietism,  and 
finally,  by  the  tacit  consciousness  that  the  Union  itself 
was  a  heaven-inspired  thought,  and  in  harmony  with  the 
demands  of  the  age.  But  what  contributed,  perhaps, 
the  most  to  the  removal  of  all  opposition,  was  the  refer- 
ence of  the  Liturgy,  in  1829,  to  the  Consistories  and 
assemblies  of  clergy,  for  the  purpose  of  introducing  such 
modifications  within  the  limits  of  the  original  type  as 
should  adapt  it  to  the  use  of  particular  provinces.  Al- 
ready, in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1828,  the  King  had 
sanctioned  the  use,  in  the  Chapel  of  the  Embassy  at 
Rome,  of  certain  very  important  alterations,  which  bore 
the  stamp  of  congregational  co-operation,  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  Liturgy ;  and,  in  particular,  had  conceded 
that  the  sermon  "  should  be  restored  to  the  more  im- 
portant position  in  the  service,  formerly  assigned  to  it  by 
a  wide-spread  and  ancient  custom."  This  rubric,  and  the 
preface  to  the  "  Liturgy  for  the  Evangelical  Chapel  in 
Rome,"  proceed  from  the  King's  own  hand,  who  ex- 
amined for  himself  the  order  of  worship  laid  before  him, 
in  all  its  details,  with  the  greatest  earnestness,  as  is  tes- 
tified by  papers  of  his  still  preserved.  Meanwhile,  the 
Union  itself,  with  its  symbol,  the  Union  Liturgy,  was 


PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  UNION.  317 

making  progress,  and  in  1830  was  introduced  by  law 
into  the  various  congregations.  But  at  the  same  time 
an  Old  Lutheran  reaction  showed  itself,  which  found  an 
organ  in  Scheibel,  a  very  ignorant,  but  resolute  and 
fanatical  preacher,  and  gradually  caused  the  King  much 
anxiety.  The  spirit  of  adherence  to  a  particular  con- 
fession was  aroused,  and  now  the  isolation  and  helpless- 
ness of  the  royal  dictatorship  became  apparent.  The 
want  of  any  independent  governing  authority  in  the 
Church,  and  of  all  free  congregational  action,  rendered 
it  more  and  more  difficult  for  the  Government  and  the 
Congregation  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  each 
other ;  nor  were  there  any  adequate  legal  securities  for 
religious  liberty.  Hence  sprang  the  Cabinet  Order  of 
the  28th  February,  1834,  the  second  document  we  ap- 
pend, which  properly  has  to  do  rather  with  the  Liturgy 
than  with  the  Union. 

The  King  sought  to  separate  the  question  of  the 
Liturgy  from  that  of  the  Union.  He  held  it  to  be  his 
right,  in  virtue  of  his  sovereign  authority,  to  lay  the 
Liturgy  before  the  congregations  for  their  acceptance  ; 
while  the  accession  to  the  Union,  he  says,  is  a  matter  of 
free  choice ; — it  will  be  easy  for  an  unprejudiced  person 
to  convince  himself  that  this  has  nothing  to  do  with  any 
abolition  of  confessional  distinctions  hitherto  existing. 
As  it  had  been  said  in  the  Appeal  of  1817,  "that  the 
Lutheran  should  not  go  over  to  the  Reformed  Church, 
nor  the  Calvinist  to  the  Lutheran,"  so  this  Edict  says, 
evidently  with  the  same  meaning,  "the  object  and  inten- 
tion of  the  Union  was  not  any  conversion  to  a  new  Con- 
fession of  Faith."  His  fundamental  principle  of  the 
Appeal  of  1817  had  been  already  recalled  to  mind  by  a 
Cabinet  Order  of  the  30th  April,  1830,  which  expressly 
declares  that  "the  Union  involves  no  change  of  Confes- 


318  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

sion."  The  Union  Liturgy,  we  are  told  by  the  Edict 
of  1834,  is  not  intended  to  occupy  the  place  of  the  con- 
fessional writings  which  have  been  handed  down  in  the 
Church.  No  evangelical  Christian  can  be  unable  to  ac- 
cept it,  nor  does  its  acceptance  necessarily  involve  any 
accession  to  the  Union.  A  congregation  which  joins  the 
Union  naturally  adopts  the  Liturgy,  but  it  does  not,  by 
adopting  the  Liturgy,  constitute  itself  a  member  of  the 
Union.  But  even  those  who  believe  themselves  bound 
to  hold  fast  the  distinctions  of  doctrine  between  the  two 
Confessions  with  the  utmost  strictness,  ought  not  on  this 
account  to  deny  themselves  all  outward  Church  fellow- 
ship. The  meaning  of  such  expressions  must  clearly  be 
nothing  else  than  this :  that  such  dogmatic  Christians 
and  congregations  may  be  willing  not  only  to  recognize 
the  preponderating  coincidence  of  the  two  systems  of 
doctrine,  but  through  faith  in  what  they  have  in  com- 
mon, to  live  in  external  Church  fellowship ;  that  is, 
at  least,  to  make  use  of  a  common  form  of  worship, 
and  to  live  under  the  same  Protestant  Church  govern- 
ment. 

To  one  point  the  King  holds  fast,  as  that  by  which 
the  Union  must  stand  or  fall : 

"  Under  no  circumstances  can  the  enemies  of  the 
Union  be  permitted  to  constitute  themselves  a  separate 
religious  body^ 

This  evidently  can  not  mean  to  say,  the  Old  Luther- 
ans are  to  be  driven  out  of  the  country.  For  if  so, 
what  would  become  of  the  fundamental  principle,  that 
accession  to  the  Union  is  wholly  voluntary  ?  It  can 
only  mean,  therefore,  they  shall  not  organize  themselves 
into  a  separate  religious  body  within  the  United  National 
Church.  The  King  saw  that  else  we  should  have  in 
future  three  State  Churches  instead  of  two,  and  that  his 


PRINCIPLES  OF  THE   UNION.  319 

^ious  labors,  instead  of  producing  unity,  would  only 
have  brought  about  worse  divisions.  Hence,  the  King, 
in  the  earlier  Edict  of  the  30th  April,  1830,  had  already 
recommended  the  General-Superintendents  to  endeavor 
to  bring  about :  "  The  disuse  of  the  distinctive  names 
cf  the  two  Protestant  Confessions  (^Reformed  and 
Lutheran)  both  by  the  clergy  and  laity. ''^ 

He  who  wishes  to  live  within  the  Protestant  National 
Ohurch  as  by  law  established  may  therefore,  as  a  school- 
man or  a  dogmatist,  remain  Lutheran  or  Reformed,  as 
he  chooses ;  provided  only  that  he  give  the  inferior  place 
to  the  points  of  difference,  and  subordinate  them  to  the 
points  of  agreement,  instead  of  ranking  them  as  insepara- 
ble on  the  same  leveL  The  ministerial  regulations  of 
the  reign  of  Frederic  William  III.  amply  prove  that 
during  this  reign  this  principle  was  followed  in  all  the 
proceedings  and  decisions  of  the  Government. 

From  the  time  that  the  Union  Liturgy  had  been  ex- 
tended and  modified  by  the  various  provinces  in  1829 
and  1830,  the  Union  had  existed  by  law  throughout  the 
country ;  having  been  accepted  by  the  clergy  and  laity, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  congregations,  whose  resist- 
ance would  soon  have  died  out,  had  they  been  quietly 
allowed  to  take  their  own  course.  In  the  Rhine  Prov- 
inces and  Westphalia,  thirty-two  congregations  did  not 
join  the  Union,  but  unhesitatingly  adopted  the  synodal 
constitution,  in  which  they  lived  amicably  as  united 
members.  In  the  reat  of  the  provinces,  this  seal,  the 
element  borrowed  from  the  Reformed  Ohurch,  was  want- 
ing ;  but  the  liturgical  seal,  the  guiding  and  overruling 
element,  was  present ;  and  sacred  song  and  prayer 
worked  together  toward  that  union  of  heart  of  which 
they  were  the  outward  symbols.  Not  only  every  prov- 
ince, but  every  separate  congregation  had  been  Sruffered 


320  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

to  maintain  its  own  forms  and  customs,  if  the j  had  no 
exclusive  tendency,  and  learned  now  to  feel  united 
with  the  rest  in  that  Last  Supper  of  Love  which,  in 
its  dogmatic  form,  had  caused,  and  could  only  cause 
divisions. 

Undoubtedly,  the  opinion  of  those  who  maintained 
that  the  Union  had  no  solid  and  permanent  foundation 
was  but  too  soon  confirmed.  There  lacked,  except  in 
the  Rhine  Provinces  and  Westphalia,  the  legal  recogni- 
tion of  the  Congregation  as  the  depositary  of  right,  as 
well  as  any  permanent  organs  of  the  pious  consciousness 
of  the  united  people. 

Since  1809,  the  King  had  exercised  a  pure  dictator- 
ship over  the  Church,  and  administered  its  affiiirs  through 
his  officers.  Every  parish  priest  was  designated  in  the 
official  oath  as  "  servant  of  the  Church  and  State J^ 
Under  such  a  despotic  (however  mild  and  well-inten- 
tioned) Church-government,  not  much  regard  was  paid 
to  the  obtaining  of  a  formal  and  authentic  expression  of 
sentiment ;  the  acceptance  of  the  Union  took  place  in 
each  congregation  separately — sometimes  by  the  enthu- 
siastic assent  of  the  whole,  sometimes  by  the  pastor 
alone,  with  that  tacit  consent  of  the  congregation  which 
is  the  favorite  form  or  fiction  of  the  absolute  canon  law. 
The  clergyman  reported  to  the  Superintendent,  the 
latter  to  the  Consistory,  and  the  Consistory  to  the  min- 
istry, that  the  acceptance  had  taken  place.  But  it  had 
really  taken  place  everywhere  in  the  course  of  these 
seventeen  years,  and  had  been  carried  out  and  established 
by  law  without  opposition.  In  1834,  in  about  five 
Lutheran  congregations,  some  resistance  was  displayed, 
but  even  in  them  only  by  a  minority  (as  far  as  this  fact 
can  be  learned  from  official  documents,  I  speak  from 
personal  knowledge). 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY.  §21 

The  congregational  element  was  also  far  too  much 
neglected  in  the  mode  adopted  in  introducing  the  Union 
Liturgy.  The  Liturgy  was,  and  continued  to  be,  an 
Agenda,  and  was  treated  as  an  affair  of  the  clergy  alone, 
because  it  had  been  so  in  the  first  instance.  It  was  not 
included  in  any  Hymn-book ;  nor  was  it  popularly  devel- 
oped, like  that  of  England,  into  a  dialogue  between  the 
priest  and  the  people.  It  was  "performed"  by  the 
''officiating  minister  and  the  choir."  No  doubt,  with 
regard  to  these  mistakes,  the  King  betrayed  a  certain 
degree  of  narrowness  and  timidity  of  mind ;  but  we 
must  not  forget  the  materials  he  found  existing  around 
him ; — the  invincible  pedantry  of  the  narrow-hearted 
and  priest-ridden  seventeenth  century,  and  the  barren 
formlessness  and  chaos  of  the  eighteenth,  both  the  result 
of  our  political  condition. 

Thus  religious  liberty  was  the  first  necessity  to  re- 
kindle that  congregational  feeling  in  individual  Chris- 
tians which  might  be  the  parent  of  new  organizations. 
To  grant  this  liberty  to  the  small  party  of  Old  Luther- 
ans, who  certainly  found  themselves  treated  with  the 
utmost  rigor  of  the  law,  was  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the 
reign  of  Frederic  William  the  Fourth. 

But  the  whole  tendency  of  the  present  King's  labors 
was  toward  freedom,  and  the  practical  supply  of  those 
deficiencies  of  the  Protestant  Church  which  we  have 
characterized  above.  With  this  aim  he  convoked,  in 
1846,  after  many  preparatory  measures,  the  first  General 
Synod,  which  consisted  of  thirty-seven  clerical  and 
thirty-eight  lay  representatives,  and  included  among  its 
members  the  most  distinguished  men  of  Prussia,  whether 
for  enlightened  piety  and  spiritual  experience,  or  for 
power  of  utterance  and  knowledge  of  Scripture.  The 
overwhelming  majority  of  this  assembly  felt,  like  the 
14* 


822  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

King,  that  the  first  task  of  such  an  assembly  must  be  the 
consolidation  of  the  Union.  For  how  could  any  thing 
profitable  be  done  for  or  by  a  Church,  unless  it  were 
first  of  all  clearly  determined  what  was  necessary  to 
church-fellowship  and  for  the  representation  of  the  Con- 
gregation ?  Unhappily,  no  practical  efficacy  was  given 
to  their  proposals.  But  there  remains,  as  a  monument 
of  their  spirit,  their  memorable  theological  declaration 
on  the  import,  extent,  and  bearing  of  the  points  of 
agreement  between  the  two  systems  of  doctrine ;  as 
whose  author  Nitzsch  may  be  regarded,  in  conjunction 
with  Dr.  Julius  Miiller,  who  was  charged  with  the 
drawing  up  of  the  Consensus.* 

No  person  of  candid  and  well-informed  mind  can  read 
this  remarkable  document  without  becoming  convinced 
that  the  witness  thus  borne  to  the  Union  forms  the  most 
dignified  and  decisive  answer  to  much  of  the  theological 
bigotry  and  scholastic  arrogance  of  the  present  day,  as 
well  as  to  certain  misrepresentations  of  the  original  idea 
of  the  Union,  which  would  give  it  a  meaning  favorable 
to  the  exclusive  spirit  of  the  Old  Lutherans. 

On  the  latter  side,  unhappily,  we  even  then  find 
Stahl,  as  the  head  of  a  minority,  consisting  of  fourteen 
members.  We  have  the  speeches  he  made  in  these  de- 
liberations now  before  us  in  the  records  of  the  General 
Synod,  and  we  can  not  but  perceive  that  they  proceed 
from  a  point  of  view,  not  merely  occasionally  difiering 
from,  but  diametrically  opposed  to  the  view  of  the  ma- 
jority, and  the  Union  of  Frederic  William  the  Third. 
For  Stahl  announces  that  ' '  the  logical  definitions  of  the 
truths  essential  to  salvation  given  in  the  Creeds,  can  not 
be  separated  from  the  truths  themselves."     He  declares 

*  See  Appendix  F  to  Letter  X. : — The  Evangelical  Consensus 
adopted  by  the  General  Synod  of  Prassia  in  1846. 


THE   CREEDS  AND  CHRISTIAN  FAITH.  323 

for  himself,  and  those  who  think  with  him,  that  "the 
truths  essential  to  salvation  are,  to  them,  living  only  as 
they  are  contained  in  the  vessel  of  the  Creeds."  These 
words,  therefore,  fully  confirm  our  exposition  of  his 
somewhat  obscure  statements  on  this  subject  in  his 
speech  of  1855.  He  denies  the  Union. 
*'  But  at  the  same  time  he  admits  that  : 

"  The  logical  definitions  of  the  Creeds  are  defective,  and  not 
fully  adequate  to  the  Divine  Truth ;  and  it  is  the  task  of  every 
private  Christian,  and  of  the  whole  Christian  Church,  constantly 
to  rise  nearer  to  the  Divine  Truth  itself,  and  to  endeavor  after  a 
wider  conception  thereof,  toward  which,  however,  these  logical 
definitions  must  permanently  serve  as  a  vehicle." 

As  to  the  mode  of  reconciling  this,  doubtless,  correct 
view  of  the  inadequacy  of  the  definitions  of  the  old  ec- 
clesiastical Confessions  with  his  former  high-flown  theo- 
logical utterances,  we  are  left  quite  in  the  dark.  We 
might  ask,  what  will  become  of  the  vessels  when  the  sav- 
ing formularies  free  themselves  from  their  bounds  ?  or  of 
the  truths  essential  to  salvation  when  they  are  taken  out 
of  the  vessels  without  which  they  are  but  dead  ? 

Not  only  is  every  philosopher  of  our  age  fully  aware, 
but  every  unlearned  evangelical  Christian  must  easily 
perceive,  that  it  is  impossible  not  to  fall  into  contra- 
dictions, if  the  simple  Christian  faith,  as  contained  in 
universally  known  Bible  maxims  and  the  Catechism,  and 
witnessed  by  conscience,  is  placed  on  the  same  level  with 
the  acceptance  of  the  scholastic  deductions  of  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries.  The  inadequacy  of 
the  principles  of  exegesis  and  historical  criticism  on 
which  these  deductions  are  based,  and  the  defectiveness 
of  the  whole  method  pursued  then,  as  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  in  philosophizing  on  Biblical  theology,  are  now 
universally  acknowledged.     The  very  man  who  holds 


324  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

Luther's  fundamental  conception  of  Justification  by 
Faith,  as  expressed  in  the  Augsburg  Confession  and  the 
Smaller  Catechism,  to  be  the  best  exposition  of  this 
point  of  doctrine,  may  entertain  the  strongest  objection 
to  the  demand,  that  the  same  respect  should  be  con- 
ceded, the  same  binding  power  assigned,  to  the  sys- 
tematic development  of  this  doctrine  by  the  Lutheran 
divines.  His  objection  will  be  grounded  partly  on  the 
nature  of  the  case  itself,  partly  on  the  defective  and  ar- 
bitrary character  which,  according  to  Stahl's  own  testi- 
mony, is  inherent  in  all  such  theological  formulas.  And 
all  this  will  be  felt  still  more  strongly  with  regard  to  the 
scholastic  body  of  proof  for  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  the 
Eucharist,  in  which  Luther  himself  has  but  a  small  share. 
Unfortunately  Stahl's  expressions  concerning  the 
Union  were  as  obscure  formerly  as. they  are  at  the 
present  day.  He  admitted  (and  it  is  well  to  note  this) 
that 

*•  The  confessional  Union  is  already  accomplished,  and  the  ec- 
clesiastical government  is  confessionally  united,  in  so  far  as  it  is 
the  only  organ  through  which  the  Church  has  the  power  of  ex- 
pressing her  faith,  and  giving  it  practical  effect;  in  this  sense 
there  exists  no  longer  any  Lutheran  Church  in  Prussia.*'' 

Such  is  his  view  of  the  state  of  the  case  in  the  eye  of 
the  law.  But  henceforth  it  must  be  the  grand  aim  of 
the  rulers  of  the  Church  to  counteract  this  condition  of 
things.  The  problem  of  the  United  Church  government 
must  be,  "to  protect  the  separate  Confessions  within  the 
pale  of  the  Union."  This  last  proposition  demands 
grave  consideration.  The  shadow  of  Frederic  William 
rises  up  to  protest  against  the  assertion,  that  he  intended 
to  attack  the  separate  Confessions :  he  would  only  as- 
sign them  their  right  place  in  the  life  of  the  Christian 
Congregation,  and  not  suj0fer  the  great  National  Protes- 


THE  SEPARATE  CONFESSIONS.  325 

tant  Church  to  become  once  more  a  Church  of  theo- 
logians, through  the  rekindhng  of  a  religious  zeal  for 
ecclesiastical  distinctions.  On  the  other  hand,  all  fear 
of  any  oppression  of  the  separate  Confessions  outside  the 
United  National  Church  is  no  less  strongly  negatived  by 
the  perfect  liberty  accorded  to  them,  immediately  on  his 
accession  to  the  throne,  by  Erederic  William  IV.  But 
to  carry  out  in  practice  the  protection  here  demanded  for 
these  Confessions,  in  their  scholastic  completeness,  within 
the  pale  of  the  Union,  is  to  destroy  the  Union  and  an- 
nihilate its  fundamental  principle. 

The  separate  Confessions  possess,  as  all  agree,  a  har- 
mony with  each  other  which  is  grand  and  beautiful, 
consoling  and  peace-giving :  he  who  holds  fast  by  this, 
and  as  a  member  of  the  Congregation  keeps  in  the  back- 
ground the  discordant  theological  dogmas  of  the  two 
systems,  is  within  the  pale  of  the  Protestant  National 
Church,  and  belongs  to  a  noble  confession.  He  who 
can  not,  or  will  not,  do  this,  will  find  ample  protection 
in  the  separate  Churches,  Lutheran  or  Calvinistic, 
founded  upon  these  points  of  difference.  As  a  learned 
theologian,  any  one  of  course  may  prefer  the  one  doctrine 
and  its  development  to  the  other ;  but  this  has  nothing 
to  do  with  congregational  life,  only  with  the  republic  of 
letters.  But  whoever  would  lay  stress  on  these  differ- 
ences as  a  hinderance  to  a  common  constitution,  and  to 
union  in  a  common  worship  of  God,  can  not  honestly 
remain  within  the  United  Church :  he  denies  it.  He 
can  only  remain  in  it  in  order,  consciously  or  unconsci- 
ously, to  work  its  destruction. 

If  we  compare  Stahl's  expressions  in  1846  with  the 
oration  of  1855,  we  perceive  a  progress  that  must  be 
regretted,  on  the  path  of  introducing  confessional  separ- 
atism within  the  pale  of  the  Union,  and  fostering  it 


326  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

through  the  agency  of  the  highest  dictatorial  council. 
He  says  now,  as  we  have  seen,  that  it  is  altogether  inad- 
missible to  make  any  distinction  between  fundamental 
and  non-fundamental  doctrines :  every  thing  is  funda- 
mental in  a  true  system.  "  And  Anathema  sit!  who- 
ever consciously  gives  up  one  tittle  thereof  P^ 

This  is,  if  possible,  even  stronger  than  his  character- 
istic confession  of  faith,  apostolic,  oecumenic,  and  Luth- 
eran, in  the  Kirchentag  of  1853. 

We  now  come  to  the  fateful  years  of  1848  and  1849, 
and  must  take  notice  of  Stahl's  remarkable  expressions 
of  opinion  at  that  time,  and  the  official  measures  which 
followed  them,  in  so  far  as  they  affect  the  Union  and  the 
United  National  Church. 

On  the  15th  of  January,  1849,  the  then  Minister  for 
Ecclesiastical  Affairs,  M.  von  Ladenberg,  invited  all  the 
Consistories  and  Protestant  theological  faculties  of  the 
universities,  with  the  Privy  Counselor  of  Justice  Stahl, 
and  three  other  distinguished  professors  of  canon  law,  to 
send  in  reports  on  the  best  method  of  preparing  the  way 
for  the  constitutional  independence  of  the  Protestant 
National  Church.  These  reports  were  published  in  the 
following  July.  -  As  early  as  the  autumn  of  1848,  the 
idea  of  committing  the  work  of  framing  the  constitution 
to  a  General  Synod,  springing  from  direct  election,  had 
been  given  up,  and  the  discussions  now  turned  on  the 
necessary  organic  preparations  for  a  National  Synod,  to 
be  elected  by  the  Synods  of  the  separate  circles  and 
provinces,  which  again  were  to  be  elected  by  the 
parochial  boards.  Others  desired  a  free  Conference  for 
the  discussion  of  the  subject ;  and  Stahl  had  advocated 
this  view  when  there  was  still  a  probability  that 
a  General  Synod  resting  on  direct  election  might  be 
called. 


PROJECTS  FOR  A  CONSTITUTION.  327 

'A  memorial  drawn  up  by  Dr.  Ludwig  Richter,*  the 
celebrated  professor  of  canon  law,  which  contained  a 
lucid  statement  of  all  the  views  hitherto  expressed  on 
the  topic,  accompanied  the  ministerial  invitation.  It 
now  stands  at  the  head  of  the  very  meritorious  publica- 
tion containing  the  "  Official  Reports  on  the  Constitution 
of  the  Protestant  Church  in  Prussia."  The  upright 
Professor  of  law  justly  ranks  the  Union  itself  as  the  pre- 
liminary assumption.  In  some  few  provinces,  he  says, 
the  reaction  of  certain  political  agitations  has  given  rise 
to  the  idea,  ''that  the  first  and  most  essential  step  is  to 
restore  to  the  separate  Confessions  those  rights  of  which 
they  have  been  deprived  by  the  Union."  "  This  party," 
continues  the  memorial,  "  renounces,  therefore,  the 
maintenance  of  the  external  unity  of  the  whole  great 
Protestant  Congregation  of  the  nation ;  and  in  the  place 
of  the  National  Church,  whose  conception  is  to  them 
wanting  in  clearness  and  truth,  they  would  restore  three 
independent  spheres  of  rehgious  life — the  Reformed,  the 
Lutheran,  and  the  United  Churches." 

This  is  the  language  of  truth  and  history.  We  now 
know  on  official  evidence,  that  Stahl's  report  (p.  404- 
416),  may  be  regarded  in  the  main  as  the  organ  of  that 
Lutheran  party  which  had  been  stirred  up  in  certain 
provinces.  We  find  in  it  the  very  words  which  Richter 
characterizes  as  the  party-view  of  the  enemies  of  the 
Union. 

*  The  most  learned  and  famous  professor  of  canon  law  in 
Germany,  now  at  Berlin ;  in  1847  he  was  made  Counselor  of  the 
Ministry  for  Ecclesiastical  Affairs,  and  wrote  excellent  memoirs 
in  connection  with  this  department  during  1848  and  1849.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council,  but  is  opposed 
to  Stahl,  whose  theories  as  to  the  depositary  of  power  in  the 
Christian  Church  he  had  demolished  in  a  learned  work  published 
in  1843.— TV. 


328  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

With  regard  to  the  Constitution,  Stahl  rejects  the 
territorial  doctrine,  according  to  which  the  sovereign,  as 
such,  governs  the  Protestant  Church.  But  I  do  not 
give  him  much  thanks  for  this,  as  he  lets  in  the  right  of 
the  sovereign  to  govern  the  Church  by  another  door — 
namely,  the  Protestant  sovereign  governs  it  as  being  its 
"  highest  member."  Both  systems  are  irreconcilable 
with  the  rights  of  the  Congregation  and  are  practically 
alike.  Dr.  Stahl  knows  full  well  that  the  King  of 
Bavaria  and  the  Emperor  of  Austria  are  justly  indiffer- 
ent to  such  distinctions.  If  the  Protestants  are,  once 
for  all,  to  be  governed  by  their  sovereigns,  no  sovereign 
will  find  any  difficulty  in  accepting  the  position.  It 
comes  to  the  same  thing  whether  he  rules  by  Lutheran 
usage  or  the  new  Caesaro-papacy,  of  which  the  Prussian 
Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  is  laying  the  foundation : 
— whatever  be  the  form,  it  is  in  virtue  of  this  sovereignty 
that  the  Reformed  Churches  of  Hungary  and  Transyl- 
vania now  see  their  free  constitution  menaced  by  the 
extension  of  the  consistorial  form  of  government  to  the 
Reformed  Synodal  Church.  The  same  fate  has  over- 
taken the  Reformed  Churches  in  other  places.  Did  not 
the  Catholic  Minister  of  the  Interior  in  Bavaria,  a  short 
time  ago,  forbid  a  highly-respected  clergyman  and 
member  of  the  Consistory  to  take  part  in  an  assembly 
of  deacons,  of  a  purely  religious  nature?  Moreover, 
Stahl  preaches  against  the  territorial  doctrine,  because 
he  fears  that  by  virtue  of  it  complaints  might  be  laid 
before  the  Chambers  of  the  non-execution  of  those 
Articles  of  the  Constitution  which  affect  the  Church. 
A  constitutional  appeal  to  the  Chambers  with  regard  to 
the  execution  of  these  Articles  is,  in  the  eyes  of  his 
party,  identical  with  sacrificing  the  independence  of  the 
Church  to  the  State.     An  appeal  to  Parliament,  there- 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  THE  CROWN.  329 

fore,  a  piece  of ''territorialistic"  treason;  but  that  the 
Protestant  sovereign  should  rule  the  Church  as  her 
''highest  member,"  with  the  help  of  the  academical 
body,  is  founded  in  justice.  And  wherefore?  Stahl 
says,  because  it  is  founded  on  the  existing  facts  of  the 
case.  Nor  according  to  him,  is  it  contrary  to  the  letter 
of  the  Constitution  (as  he  publicly  declared  in  the  Pas^ 
toral  Conference  of  1848),  only  to  the  spirit  of  it.  At 
any  rate,  therefore,  it  appertains  to  the  Crown  to  con- 
tinue to  rule  the  Church  for  the  present : — a  provisional 
arrangement  that  however,  "may  occupy  a  considerable 
space  of  time,  which  it  is  wholly  impossible  to  determine 
before-hand."  The  preparation  of  the  Church  for  the 
introduction  of  a  new  Constitution  would  be  best  com- 
mitted to  a  board  of  commissioners,  hereafter  to  be  organ- 
ized, who  should  rule  the  Church  with  the  now  existing 
Consistories  under  it.  But  even  in  this  ultimate  consti- 
tution, this  ecclesiastical  board,  strengthened,  perhaps, 
by  the  addition  of  some  members  of  Consistories,  must 
share  the  government  with  the  representative  Synod. 
The  Congregation,  as  we  all  know,  is  not  in  his  eye  the 
depositary  of  right. 

When,  however,  he  represents  such  a  constitution  as 
in  harmony  with  the  usage  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  he 
is  Jbut  too  correct ;  for  it  would  be  nothing  else  than  the 
consistorial  constitution  of  the  seventeenth  century,  first 
established  as  a  provisional  arrangement  (which  has 
lasted,  however,  in  all  its  rigidity,  for  three  hundred 
years)  by  a  dictatorship  that  had  passed  into  a  despot- 
ism !  The  whole  apparatus  of  synodal  deliberation  in 
this  system  is,  in  practice,  merely  a  troublesome  and 
costly  appendage.  The  Central  Commission,  which 
rules  the  Church  in  the  name  of  its  Protestant  head, 
has  not  only  the  executive  power  (therefore  the  'actual 


330  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

government),  but  a  share  in  the  deliberations,  and  even 
the  right  of  veto. 

When,  however,  he  hints  that  such  a  constitution, 
^'as  not  organized  from  below  upward,"  is  consistent 
with  the  spirit  of  the  Apostolic  Form  of  Church  govern- 
ment, I  must  confess,  my  friend,  that  this  sentiment,  if 
it  is  not  a  mere  common-place,  has  strengthened  my 
doubts  whether  this  learned  man  has  ever  really  made 
researches  on  any  field  of  theology :  that  he  has  not 
done  so  in  the  field  of  exegesis  I  have  already  seen 
much  reason  to  doubt — to  his  honor,  and  the  calming  of 
my  own  fears.  And  in  early  Church  history  he  seems 
merely  to  have  taken  up  certain  assumptions,  in  order 
to  make  them  of  use  in  his  interpretation  of  history 
and  law.  But  Richter  has  already  proved,  in  1843, 
that  his  view  is  false,  even  according  to  the  expressions 
of  the  Reformers  themselves. 

Finally,  when  he  finds  the  fulfilment  of  the  national 
Constitution  of  Prussia  in  such  an  ecclesiastical  con- 
stitution, it  is  sufficient  for  the  "  limited  lay  under- 
standing" to  point  to  our  Magna  Charta  (printed  in  the 
Appendix),  to  prove  that  such  an  assumption  is  as  con- 
trary to  the  Constitution  as  it  is  discordant  with  the 
wishes  and  expectations  clearly  enough  expressed  by  our 
Protestant  population.  He  himself  has  confessed  that 
the  form  toward  which  he  works  as  his  goal  is  irrecon- 
cilable with  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution ;  consequently 
he  can  but  be  working  toward  the  complete  transforma- 
tion of  that  spirit. 

After  these  declarations — painfully  surprising,  indeed, 
from  so  acute  and  learned  a  man — Stahl's  report  reaches 
the  vital  point,  the  Union.  He  admits  that  the  members 
of  the  Confession  (read :  Lutherans)  possess  no  satisfac- 
tory guaranty  for  their  confessional  convictions  even  in 


LIMITS  OF  LIBERTY  WITHIN  THE   UNION.      331 

the  Cabinet  Edict  of  1834,  expressly  intended  to  tran- 
quilize  their  fears;  for  this  Edict  is  neither  clear  in 
itself,  he  says,  nor  is  it  everywhere  carried  out  alike. 
Besides,  the  Lutherans  have  still  to  complain  of  two 
restrictions.  One  is  that  the  Lutheran  congregations 
are  forbidden  to  use  their  old  Liturgies — the  other  that 
they  are  forbidden  to  form  an  organ  of  ecclesiastical 
law  for  themselves,  whose  sphere  of  action  should  con- 
sist in  watching  over  the  maintenance  of  the  confessional 
character.  This  is  true — that  is,  within  the  Union ; 
for  as  separatists  they  already  have  more  than  is  here 
demanded.  The  one  thing  that  has  hitherto  been  re- 
fused is  an  organ  of  separatism  within  the  Union  :  to 
grant  it  would  be  self-contradiction  or  treason ;  to  de- 
mand it — is  not  seemly. 

Whoever  knew  the  Union  as  it  was  under  Frederic 
William  III.  (and  I  had  occasion  to  make  myself  per- 
sonally acquainted  with  it  long  before  Dr.  Stahl  came 
into  the  country),  will  scarcely  trust  his  eyes  when  he 
reads  such  a  charge  against  the  honored  memory  of  its 
founder.  The  assertion,  that  no  regard  was  paid  to  the 
peculiarities  of  the  Lutheran  Liturgies,  is  entirely  con- 
trary to  fact.  After  the  provincial  deliberative  assem- 
blies of  the  clergy,  held  in  1829,  had  accepted  all  those 
formularies  of  worship  which  were  certified  by  the  su- 
perintendents or  pastors  of  parishes  to  be  still  living 
and  dear  to  the  people,  still  more  was  done ;  for  (as  the 
King's  commands  gave  me  occasion  to  see  for  myself, 
in  1834,  by  the  inspection  of  official  documents)  wher- 
ever an  old  Agenda  was  insisted  on,  whether  reasonably 
or  unreasonably,  its  use  was  permitted  as  a  special  ap- 
pendix to  the  general  National  Liturgy,  except  where, 
in  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  some  form  had 
crept  in  which  would  exclude  their  Reformed  brethren 


832  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

from  Church  fellowship.  The  same  documents,  however, 
also  showed  hut  too  plainly  that  the  fanaticism  of  the 
Old  Lutherans  (who  did  not  then  form  the  majority  of 
a  single  congregation)  went  so  far  that  they  resisted  the 
binding  up  of  their  own  Agenda  with  the  Union  Liturgy 
in  one  volume  as  a  desecration  of  the  former.  And 
these  are  the  people  of  whom  a  man  of  intellect  makes 
himself  the  organ ! 

If,  to  please  a  few  ignorant  country  ^congregations  in 
whom  a  fanatical  spirit  is  systematically  excited,  this 
arrogant  and  exclusive  party  should  overthrow  the  first 
principles  of  the  Union,  while  still  remaining  within  the 
United  Church,  they  will  end  by  practically  destroying 
the  latter ;  at  least,  they  could  pursue  no  other  course 
were  such  really  their  object.  Now  Stahl  sees  no  harm 
whatever  in  this.  On  the  second  point  he  certainly  per- 
ceives some  difficulties ;  but  it  would  only  be  necessary, 
he  thinks,  to  replace  the  Union  by  a  "  Confederation," 
such  as  has  already  been  proposed  by  the  Wittenberg 
Assembly  of  Lutherans,  and  was  described  by  Stahl 
himself,  in  the  Pastoral  Conference  at  Berlin,  1848, 
dimly  looming  through  the  twilight  of  futurity.  Thus, 
perhaps,  might  the  Lutherans  be  withheld  from  schism 
and  complete  separation ;  in  case  of  which,  they  would 
be  entitled  to  appeal  to  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  and 
the  legal  condition  of  things  before  1817,  were  not  at 
least  the  half  of  the  Church  property  assigned  to  them. 

Here,  then,  we  first  encounter  the  phrase,  which 
began  to  grow  current  in  1848.  "  Confederation"  is 
the  ominous  word  which  some  are  seeking  to  substitute 
for  "  Union ;  "  and  confederation  is  the  thing  which  the 
same  men  are,  to  the  utmost  of  their  power,  substituting 
for  "  Union"  in  practice.  The  dust  of  "  Confederation," 
some  years  later,  was  thrown  in  the  unsuspicious  half- 


LIMITS  OF  LIBERTY  WITHIN  THE  UNION.      333 

closed  eyes  of  the  good  honest  Kirchentag  ;  and  thus 
it  happened,  to  the  deep  grief  of  myself  and  many  good 
Protestants,  that  the  Kirchentag  of  1853  adopted  that 
name,  and  set  aside  the  improved  Confession  of  1540, 
which  received  Luther's  approbation. 

The  menace  of  the  Peace  of  Westphalia,  almost  re- 
minds us  of  the  terrible  words  of  Bishop  von  Ketteler 
and  M.  von  Linde  ;  here,  however,  it  is  rather  ridiculous 
tnan  offensive. 

Stahl  closes  with  the  following  remark  : 

"Altogether  it  will  require  a  special  statute  to  settle  the  ques- 
tion of  Church  property,  in  case  of  a  change  of  Confession,  or 
of  internal  schism." 

The  Constitution,  it  seems,  has  settled  and  can  settle 
nothing  on  this  point ;  and  the  old  regulations  are  no 
longer  sufficient.  The  sentence  is  somewhat  obscure,  as 
is  occasionally  the  case  with  our  Professor  of  canon  law. 
Can  he  here  have  suffered  himself  to  be  carried  so  far 
away  by  his  theological  system,  as  to  have  forgotten  the 
first  principle  of  the  Union,  namely,  that  in  it  no  change 
of  Confession  finds  place.  In  the  United  Church  the 
Lutheran  does  not  become  Reformed,  nor  the  Reformed 
Lutheran.  To  secede  is  open  to  all ;  he  who  does  so  for 
conscience'  sake,  is  simply  a  separatist  or  dissenter 
worthy  of  all  respect. 

As  to  the  Synod,  in  1848  Stahl  proposed,  instead  of 
a  Synod,  a  Conference  for  free  discussion.  This  propo- 
sition he  now  naturally  recalls,  for  he  wanted  the  Con- 
ference only  to  avert  a  General  Synod ;  when  this  object 
was  accomplished,  he  wanted  neither  Conference  nor 
Synod.  But  he  does  want  a  Supreme  Ecclesiastical 
Council — that  is,  the  "  Central  Board,"  of  which  we 
had  a  glimmering  prospect  above,  and  which  is  to  rule 


334  SIGNS  OP  tHE  TIMES. 

in  the  name  of  the  Protestant  sovereign,  with  the  aid  of 
subordinate  Consistories  for  the  management  of  local 
affairs. 

My  dear  friend,  we  promised  at  setting  out  that  we 
would  look  things  in  the  face  and  call  them  by  their 
right  names.  What,  then,  is  the  praxjtical  kernel  of  the 
whole  report?  What  is  Stahl  aiming  at?  or,  setting 
aside  all  personalities,  what  would  be  the  necessary 
practical  result  of  the  plan  here  proposed  ?  A  Cabinet 
Government  in  the  place  of  a  Ministerial  Government 
— therefore,  in  the  course  of  time,  the  most  dangerous 
form  of  an  absolute  State  Church.  This  permanent 
Board,  personally  dependent  on  the  sovereign  for  the 
time-being,  is  to  be  extended  by  the  aid  of  Synods,  in 
order  to  place  it  in  a  position  to  pass  ecclesiastical  meas- 
ures with  a  show  of  Church  authority,  and  to  give 
them  the  appearance  of  being  the  work  of  the  whole 
Church,  laity  as  well  as  clergy.  I  cast  suspicion  on 
the  motives  of  no  man ;  as  a  Christian,  I  know  that  I 
ought  not  to  judge  him  :  I  speak  only  of  the  system. 
A  system  works  independently  of  all  motives  ;  accord- 
ing to  the  eternal  law  of  God,  things  produce  those 
effects  only  which  it  lies  in  their  nature  to  produce. 
But  when  an  individual  or  a  party  consciously  puts  for- 
ward such  a  plan,  I  say  openly,  it  is  a  purely  unconsti- 
tutional evasion  of  the  Constitution — ^nay,  it  is  an  open 
insult  to  it,  and  all  who  have  sworn  to  it — to  the  King, 
and  to  the  nation.     Is  not  this  the  truth  ? 

Such,  then,  is  Stahl's  report  of  February  or  March, 
1849. 

More  than  a  year  passed  without  any  thing  being 
done  beyond  assigning  the  management  of  the  internal 
affairs  of  the  Church  to  a  special  section  of  the  Ministry 
for  Ecclesiastical  Affairs.     But  the  Royal  Edict  of  the 


THE  SUPREME  ECCLESIASTICAL  COUNCIL.      335 

29th  of  June,  1850,  called  into  existence  a  collegiate 
legislative  body,  with  the  title  of  the  "  Evangelical 
Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council."  The  office  of  this 
board  is  to  co-operate  with  the  Ministry  for  Ecclesias- 
tical Affairs  in  preparing  the  way  for  the  introduction 
of  a  congregational  organization  into  the  congregations 
of  the  Eastern  Provinces,  and  doing  whatever  else  may 
be  desirable  to  lay  the  foundation  of  an  independent 
Church  polity. 

Once  accepting  the  idea  of  a  dictatorship  (and  that 
the  transition  to  independence  should  be  accomplished 
by  means  of  a  dictatorship,  holding  plenary  power  from 
the  sovereign,  has  in  it  nothing  essentially  unconstitu- 
tional in  my  eyes),  we  must  allow  that  the  Royal  Edict, 
while  imposing  a  heavy  responsibility  on  the  new  board, 
left  it  at  perfect  liberty  to  do  what  was  good  and  right. 
Evidently,  all  depended  on  the  fundamental  view  taken 
of  the  Union.  Where  such  views  of  the  Union  and  its 
object,  as  those  impartially  delineated  by  Richter,  and 
gloried  in  by  Stahl,  are  openly  professed,  he  also  who 
joins  the  Union  as  it  was  conceived  by  its  founder  and 
the  nation,  is  capable  of  accomplishing  any  thing  truly 
beneficial  within  the  United  Church — ^nay,  of  fulfilling 
the  most  moderate  demands  of  the  public  conscience. 
Not  every  one,  however,  is  able  to  join  the  Union  in  this 
sense  sincerely ;  but  every  one,  it  seems  to  me,  is  free  to 
accept  or  decline  a  seat  in  that  Supreme  Ecclesiastical 
Council,  whose  object  is  to  confirm  and  settle  the  Union 
on  a  secure  basis. 

I  repeat  it,  then  as  now,  all  fruitful  co-operation  in 
the  conduct  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  seems  to  me  im- 
possible, so  long  as  we  do  not  know  who  is  the  deposit- 
ary— ^who  the  subject — of  the  organization  whose  in- 
troduction is   to   be   prepared  :   whether  one   United 


836  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Church,  or  three  confederate  Churches,  one  of  which 
regards  the  two  others  as  swerving  from  the  center,  and 
seeks  to  overshadow  them  by  the  honored  name  of 
Luther. 

We  will  now  give  an  uncolored  narrative  of  the  official 
acts  of  this  board.  So  early  as  the  2d  of  the  following 
month  it  had  completed  a  very  minute  system  of  con- 
gregational organization,  which  on  the  11th  of  the  same 
month  was  presented  to  the  six  Eastern  Consistories,  as 
it  was  not  needed  by  the  Church  of  the  Rhine  Provinces 
and  Westphalia,  which  had  already  adopted  a  synodal 
organization  in  1835.  This  work  bears  the  name  of 
^'  Sketch  of  a  Protestant  Congregational  Organization." 
That  the  beginning  must  be  made  with  the  ecclesiastical 
organization  of  the  local  congregations,  was  the  very 
first  idea  underlying  the  unexecuted  Cabinet  Edict  of 
1816,  and  the  Royal  Edict  of  1850.  The  fundamental 
idea,  therefore,  is  a  new  pledge  from  our  sovereign  for 
the  Union  and  the  Constitution.  The  organization  here 
decreed  also  contains  much  that  is  excellent  and  worthy 
of  grateful  acknowledgment.  The  wording  of  the  first 
two  articles  is  certainly  questionable.  When  the  First 
Article  says  that  the  Congregation  is  a  member  of  the 
Protestant  Church  this  declaration  might  seem  superflu- 
ous ;  but  it  seems  ominous  when  it  reminds  the  Congre- 
gation that  her  right  to  this  membership  rests  on  the 
full  theological  Confession  to  which  the  clergy  are  bound, 
and  demands  a  promise  of  submission  to  the  general 
laws  of  the  Church  (ancient,  modern,  or  future  laws 
therefore),  but  says  nothing  of  the  supreme  authority 
of  the  Scripture. 

The  Article  runs  thus  : 

"  As  a  member  of  the  Protestant  Church,  the  Congregation 
confesses  that  doctrine  which  is  founded  on  the  pure  and  clear 


THE  (ECUMENICAL  CREEDS.  337 

Word  of  Grod — ^the  prophetic  and  apostolic  writings  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments — and  is  testified  in  the  cecumenical  Creeds, 
and  the  Confessions  of  the  Reformers ;  and  fm'ther  submits  itself 
to  the  general  laws  and  regulations  of  the  Church." 

This  is  not  all :  according  to  the  Second  Article : 

The  Congregation  binds  her  members  to  be  diligent  in  the 
Christian  walk  and  conversation ;  to  give  their  aid  to  the  main- 
tenance of  the  institutions  connected  with  the  congregations  by 
the  supply  of  the  necessary  contributions,  and  to  confess  them- 
selves members  of  the  Church  by  participation  in  the  Word  and 
the  Sacraments." 

On  the  fulfillment  of  this  engagement  rests  (accord- 
ing to  Article  3)  the  right  of  the  member  to  a  share  in 
the  Church's  means  of  grace,  and  the  institutions  and 
ordinances  of  the  Congregation. 

I  confess  this  regulation  seems  to  me  questionable.  It 
is  meant,  we  are  told,  to  exclude  the  so-called  "  Free 
Churches."  But  these  latter  do  not  belong  to  the 
United  National  Church  at  all,  and  it  will  scarcely 
occur  to  any  congregation  of  this  Church,  or  its  church- 
wardens, to  seize  the  opportunity  of  making  a  little 
private  Confession  of  Faith,  as  ^^  Licht-freunde^^^^  for 
itself !  But  what,  I  ask  you,  my  honored  friend,  has 
the  simple  evangelical  Christian  to  do  with  the  three 
cecumenical  Creeds  ?  Of  course,  the  term  means,  be- 
sides the  ancient  so-called  baptismal  vow  or  confession, 
which  is  the  only  Creed  occurring  in  the  course  of  wor- 
ship and  in  the  Catechism,  the  Nicene  Creed  (properly 
speaking,  the  Constantinopolitan,  of  A.  D.  380),  and  the 

*  Friends  of  Light.    They  were  fellow-thinkers  of  Uhlich  of 
Magdeburg,  mentioned  in  a  former  letter.     Their  belief  was,  in 
the  first  instance,  a  sort  of  Pantheistic  Christianity,  but  gradually 
approached  nearer  to  simple  Deism. — Tr, 
15 


388  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

theological  formula  of  the  fifth  century  erroneously  at- 
tributed to  Athanasius.  And  will  he  who  knows  any  thing 
of  the  last  named,  choose  or  feel  himself  free  to  purchase 
his  congregational  rights  with  this  Confession?  What 
should  we  both  say  in  such  a  case?  First,  I  think,  we 
should  ask,  who  gives  you  or  any  one  a  right  to  demand 
of  me  as  a  simple  Christian  and  member  of  the  Protest- 
ant National  Church,  that  I  should  confess  my  belief  in 
these  creeds  as  witnessing  the  truth  contained  in  God's 
Word  ?  And  why  these  creeds  alone  ?  Why  not  the 
doctrines  of  those  Councils  in  the  first  five  or  six  cen- 
turies, to  which  the  creeds  owe  their  authority  in  the 
Church?  Why  not,  for  instance,  the  dogma  of  the 
Ephesian  Council  concerning  Mary,  as  the  mother,  not 
of  Christ,  but  of  God,  from  which  Rome  has  just  drawn 
an  inference  not  wholly  unjustifiable  from  this  point  of 
view  ?  Next,  we  should  probably  resist  the  demand  on 
internal  grounds.  We  might  regard  the  Nicene  Creed 
(even  if  it  had  not  been  corrupted  in  the  Western 
Church  by  the  interpolation  of  the  words  "and  from 
the  Son,")  as  a  one-sided  exposition  of  the  Apostles' 
Creed,  and  yet  might  hold  fast  to  the  Augsburg  Confes- 
sion. Thus,  too,  we  might,  like  most  Christian  scholars 
of  the  present  day,  hold  the  third  Creed  to  be  a  forgery, 
and  a  piece  of  unscriptural  and  unapostolic  subtlety. 
We  might  abhor  its  damnatory  clauses,  and  yet  be  good 
members  of  the  Congregation.  At  any  rate,  we  should 
be  far  less  willing  to  rank  these  Creeds  than  even  the 
baptismal  confession  of  the  Roman  Church  on  a  level 
with  Holy  Scripture,  which  is  never  mentioned  at  all. 
As  a  congregational  testimony  against  error,  the  Te 
Deum  might  appear  to  us  far  more  appropriate  than 
those  two  formularies.  Luther,  it  is  well  known,  ad- 
duces it  in  his  translation  as  a  fourth  Symbol.     The 


THE  COMMITTEE   OF  THE  CONaREGATION.      339 

wording  of  this  Article,  therefore,  is  a  mistake,  and  a 
distortion  of  the  fundamental  idea  of  the  King. 

Next  follow  the  organic  definitions  thenjselves : 

Every  man  of  full  age  is  entitled  to  a  vote  who  has 
not  given  cause  of  offense  by  a  vicious  course  of  life,  or 
by  evincing  in  his  acts  a  contempt  for  religion  or  for  the 
Church.  The  question  of  fact  is  decided  by  the  Con- 
gregational Committee,  or,  in  case  of  appeal,  by  the  Sy- 
nod of  the  Circle ;  therefore,  in  the  mean  time,  as  iie 
latter  is  not  yet  in  existence,  by  the  Consistory.  The 
members  of  this  Congregational  Committee  (who  must 
be  at  least  four  in  number)  must  be  thirty  years  of  age, 
respected  heads  of  families,  and  constant  attendants  on 
the  Church  and  the  Sacraments.  The  pastor  is  the 
president.  The  election  is  made  by  the  qualified  mem- 
bers of  the  congregation,  from  a  list  proposed  by  the 
Congregational  Committee  (proposed,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, by  the  pastor,  the  patron,  and  the  churchwarden, 
under  the  direction  of  the  superintendent)  :  at  least 
twice  as  many  names  must  be  given  as  there  are  va- 
cancies (^  7).  Nothing  is  said  of  the  duration  of  the 
office — it  must,  therefore,  be  for  life.  The  ultimate  or- 
ganization of  the  congregation  will  be  established  by  the 
Church. 

jThe  members  of  the  Congregational  Committee  have 
a  share,  which  is  not,  however,  defined,  in  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  pastor,  probably  a  right  of  veto  on  the  ground 
of  doctrine  and  conduct.  Beside  this,  they  appoint  the 
inferior  servants  of  the  Church,  ' '  where  this  does  not 
contravene  any  already  existing  and  well-grounded 
rights,"  and  represent  the  Congregation  in  its  relations 
to  the  school,  and  the  as  yet  non-existent  Synod  of  the 
Circle. 

Taken  as  a  whole,  the  measure  deserves  grateful  ac- 


340  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

knowledgment.  Carried  out  in  the  spirit  of  the  Union, 
it  is  the  necessary  first  step  in  an  approximation  to  the 
Church  as  it  is  in  the  Rhine  Provinces  and  Westphalia. 
Its  results  in  the  province  of  Prussia  Proper  seem  to  be 
gratifying ;  and  it  is  the  enemies  of  the  gradual  intro- 
duction of  a  congregational  Church  constitution  who  op- 
pose the  measure  in  the  other  Eastern  Provinces.  But 
as  far  as  its  practical  execution  is  concerned,  we  learn 
from  the  documents  already  published,  that  several  con- 
gregations have  wished  to  hold  aloof  from  this  organiza- 
tion ;  and  the  local  authorities  are  repeatedly  urged  to 
do  all  in  their  power  to  effect  its  introduction,  without 
having  recourse  to  coercive  measures.  The  employ- 
ment of  coercion  would  certainly  be  most  unfortunate 
where  the  object  is  to  bestow  a  liberty  and  an  honor. 
If  a  congregation  persists  in  its  opposition,  we  are  told 
in  the  Edict  of  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  of 
the  22d  of  July,  addressed  to  the  Consistory  of  Silesia, 
it  shall  provisionally  remain  in  its  former  position. 
While  some  districts  in  Pomerania  did  not  think  their 
constitutional  rights  as  Lutherans  sufficiently  guarantied 
by  this  disquieting  membership  in  a  general  Evangelical 
Church  (Edict  of  the  11th  November),  some  of  the 
most  highly  esteemed  pastors  in  Berlin  (among  them 
Jonas,  Pischon,  and  Sydow)  rejected  the  whole  arrange- 
ment as  unconstitutional.  The  latter  gentlemen  also 
censure  the  omission  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  ''  our 
sole  rule  of  faith."  The  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council, 
in  its  reply  of  the  28th  November,  1850,  declares  itself 
quite  ready,  if  it  is  desired,  to  allow  the  insertion  of 
these  words.  I  confess  that,  though  I  do  not  share  the 
sentiments  of  those  estimable  men,  in  so  far  as  they  re- 
,  ject  the  whole  measure,  yet  I  can  not  either  regard  the 
reply  as  satisfactory.     ''The  Lord  thy  God  is  a  jealous 


THE   (ECUMENICAL  CREEDS.  341 

God,  and  his  glory  will  he  not  give  to  another;"  so  we 
once  learned  in  our  Lutheran  catechism.  Belief  in  the 
Word  of  God  can  not  be  simply  "inserted"  amid  the 
decisions  of  the  councils  and  the  damnatory  formularies 
of  the  schools. 

The  three  (Ecumenical  Creeds,  at  which  those  clergy- 
men have  also  taken  fright,  are  to  the  Supreme  Ec- 
clesiastical Council  wholly  inseparable.  It,  however, 
tranquilizes  any  scruples  which  they  may  entertain  as 
to  this  condition  of  congregational  membership,  in  the 
following  manner — that  is,  in  case  any  such  scruples 
should  practically  show  themselves : 

"  We  should,  indeed,  deeply  lament  it,  should  congregations  be 
found  who  have  fallen  away  from  the  foundation  of  the  Confes- 
sion. Were  such,  however,  the  case,  we  would  not  thrust  them 
from  us,  if  they  did  not  separate  from  us  of  their  own  accord,  but 
would  willingly  hold  out  to  them  the  hand  of  Christian  fellow- 
ship, in  order  to  win  them  back  to  the  Confession.  To  co-oper- 
ate in  this  work,  not  by  constraint  of  any  kind,  but  by  the  zeal- 
ous preaching  of  evangeUcal  doctrine,  and  the  faithful  cherishing 
of  even  the  weakest  germs  of  Christian  life,  will  be  the  blessed 
task  of  the  Christian  ministry." 

I  must  lament  that  belief  in  those  three  formularies 
should  be  taken  as  the  standard  of  saving  Christian 
faith.  A  man  may  accept  these  forms  and  yet  believe 
nothing  ;  a  man  may  be  a  truly  evangelical  believer  of 
the  National  Church,  and  yet  consider  them  to  be  only 
historical  testimonies.  Congregations  have  not  "fallen 
away  from  the  foundation  of  the  Confession"  because 
they  do  not  feel  themselves  called  upon  as  congregations 
to  accept  the  three  (Ecumenical  Creeds.  Our  fore- 
fathers, with  Luther  at  their  head,  certainly  linked  their 
official  Confession  to  the  creeds  of  the  ancient  Church ; 
but  always  in  subordination  to  the  article  of  justification 
by  faith,  and  the  supreme  authority  of  Scripture. 


342  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

Let  us  now  proceed  with  the  examination  of  our  offi- 
cial documents.  They  lead  us  next  to  the  spring  of 
1852,  and  therewith  to  the  first  organizing  Edict  of  the 
present  King  of  the  6th  of  March  of  that  year :  the 
second  Edict  is  dated  the  12th  July,  1853.*  The  pa- 
pers of  the  administration  possessing  any  importance  for 
us,  do  not  come  down  later  than  this  latter  date. 

The  King's  second  Edict  was  communicated  to  the 
Consistories  on  the  27th  July,  with  the  injunction  not 
to  allow  it  to  be  made  public;  it  has,  therefore,  been 
printed  only  as  a  supplement  to  the  Circular,  and  in 
small  type.  As  we  are  expressly  told  that  this  second 
Edict  is  intended  to  guard  against  wrong  conceptions 
and  applications  of  the  former,  we  must  regard  the  two 
as  forming  a  whole,  and  the  provisions  of  the  latter  as 
our  rule  of  interpretation.  For  this  reason  we  begin 
with  the  King's  solemn  declaration  in  the  Edict  of  1853, 
which  runs  thus  : 

"  It  could  not  be  my  intention  to  disturb,  much  less  to  repeal 
the  Union  of  the  two  evangelical  bodies  established  by  my  father, 
now  resting  in  God ;  and  thereby  to  bring  about  a  schism  in  the 
National  Church." 

The  accompanying  declaration  that  the  object  of  the 
first  Edict  certainly  was  to  grant  the  Confession  that 
protection  within  the  Church  to  which  its  claims  was 
unjustly  questioned,  finds  therefore  its  defining  limits  in 
the  maintenance  of  the  Union,  as  it  was  established  by 
Frederic  WilUam  III.  That  which  contravenes  the 
Union  can  not  be  enforced  as  protecting  the  Confession. 

Now  what  does  the  first  Edict  say  on  this  point  ?     It 

takes  its  stand  first  of  all  on  the  assertion  that  the  royal 

founder  of  the  Union  never  intended  ''that  the  Union 

should  cause  any  transition  from  one  Confession  to 

*  See  Appendices  C  and  D  to  Letter  X. 


THE  TWO  ROYAL  EDICTS.  343 

another,  far  less  that  it  should  bring  about  the  forma- 
tion of  a  new  third  Confession."  The  Eong,  it  adds, 
meant  only  to  render  possible  a  fellowship  in  the  Supper 
of  the  Lord,  and  to  unite  both  Confessions  into  one 
National  Church.  The  words  contain  nothing  in  them- 
selves contradictory  to  that  view,  which  we  have  already 
derived  from  the  records  of  the  first  founding  and  the 
whole  after-history  of  the  Union. 

The  fundamental  idea  of  the  King  seems  to  me  to  be 
the  maintenance  of  the  Union  of  his  father ;  that  is,  he 
takes,  or  rather  retains  as  his  object,  the  absorption 
of  the  two  separate  confessions  into  one  homogeneous 
Church.  .The  regard  paid  to  Lutheran  bigotry  seems 
to  me  to  flow  from  that  benevolent  disposition  which  we 
all  revere  in  our  Sovereign.  He  evidently  thinks  that 
a  sick  man  must  be  differently  treated  from  one  in 
health.  But  it  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  he  wishes  to 
see  a  congregation,  that  may  chance  to  show  more  zeal 
than  understanding,  inoculated  with  the  theological  evil 
or  the  confessionalistic  fever. 

There  is  not,  nor  was  there  ever  given,  the  most  dis- 
tant hint  of  an  alliance  or  confederation  of  the  two  Con- 
fessions. Thank  God  !  the  people  never  for  one  iQoment 
dreamed  that  they  should  quarrel  and  fight  to  please 
some  strife-loving  pastors  or  theologians.  They  worked 
together  wherever  they  could  ;  the  believing  Christian 
thought  much  less  of  the  distinction  than  the  Rationalist. 
As  little  was  the  suppression  of  the  two  systems  of  doe- 
trine  discussed  withiu  the  Union.  It  was  merely  taken 
for  granted  that  a  Congregation  which  joined  the  Union 
felt  the  harmony  of  the  fundamental  views  of  the 
Reformers  and  their  positive  doctrines  and  institutions 
strongly  enough  to  cast  their  differences  into  the  shade. 
Without  this  feeling,  the  Union  does  not  exist  at  all. 


344  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Its  essence  is  to  make  men  at  one  with  each  other. 
And  this  oneness  must  be  exhibited  outwardly — that  is, 
toward  those  who  are  without — hy  fellowship  in  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  in  the  polity  of  the  Church.  In  so 
far  as  this  living  agreement  in  essential  points  involves, 
or  rather  expresses,  a  new  relation  of  the  various  points 
of  doctrine  to  each  other — certain  points  being  recognized 
as  essential  in  comparison  with  divergent  methods  of 
teaching  on  other  points — ^the  Union  might  be  called  a 
new  Confession.  But  if  this  should  be  interpreted  to 
mean  that  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Confessions  have 
essentially  ceased  to  exist  because  of  the  Union,  this 
would  be  to  destroy  the  very  thing  which  we  are  told  it 
is  intended  to  secure.  For  that  which  in  both  is  ac- 
knowledged to  be  essential,  is  not  to  be  so  much  as 
weakened  :  it  is  to  be  strengthened,  and  strengthened  in 
a  double  manner.  First,  because  the  testimony  of  two 
independent  witnesses  to  a  truth  is  stronger  than  that  of 
one ;  secondly,  because  that  which  is  essential  gains  a 
stronger,  more  vigorous,  more  active  life  when  it  is 
parted  from  that  which  is  later,  non-essential — there- 
fore, to  some  extent,  the  accidental  addition  of  individ- 
uals and  circumstances.  But  in  the  present  case,  many 
since  Melancthon  had  felt  that  there  was  much  which 
was  non-essential ;  and  even  Luther,  toward  the  end  of 
his  life,  did  not  deny  that  he  had  gone  too  far  in  the 
doctrine  of  the  Sacraments.  Throughout  the  Prussian 
dominions,  even  long  before  the  Union,  no  clergyman  on 
ordination  was  ever  bound  unconditionally  to  any  Con- 
fession ;  but  a  conscience-saving  clause  was  always 
added,  ^'  In  so  far  {quatenus)  as  it  is  agreeable  to  Holy 
Scripture;"  thus  limiting  the  assent  to  what  was  essen- 
tial. The  Union,  therefore,  gave  more  positive  doctrine 
than  it  found ;  and  the  United  Church,  so  far  from  being 


THE  THREE  PROPOSALS.  845 

destitute  of  a  Confession,  possesses  one  of  increased 
stringency. 

The  King's  endeavors,  however,  are  directed  against 
those  who  by  their  very  appeal  to  the  Bible  set  them- 
selves above  the  Bible,  and  would  look  upon  the  Union 
as  a  deluge  destined  to  sweep  away  all  confessions  what- 
ever. Thus  are  we  to  interpret  the  occasion  and  the 
meaning  of  the  Royal  Edict.  Evidently,  therefore,  the 
King's  aim  could  only  be  to  act  in  this  spirit  when  he 
bestowed  the  Royal  sanction  on  certain  proposals  of  the 
Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  with  regard  to  the  prac- 
tical application  of  these  two  rules.  The  report  of  the 
19th  December,  1851,  to  which  the  royal  Edict  of  the 
6th  March,  1852,  refers,  has  not  been  published.  The 
three  proposals  which  the  Edict  sanctions  are  as  follows: 

I.  The  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  shall  pro- 
tect the  rights  of  the  Union  as  well  as  those  of  the 
two  Confessions.  After  what  has  been  given  above, 
we  understand  this,  not  as  intended  to  maintain  the 
equilibrium  between  the  Union  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
two  Confessions  on  the  other,  as  between  two  hostile 
powers — for  in  the  Union  there  is  no  equilibrium,  but 
simply  union  ;  but  we  understand  it  as  referring  to  the 
equality  existing  between  the  Confessions  themselves, 
and  their  common  protection  against  a  rationalism  which 
would  be  the  curse  of  the  Union. 

II.  The  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  consists  of 
members  of  both  Confessions  who  can  conscientiously 
approve  the  co-operation  of  members  of  the  two  Con- 
fessions. 

III.  In  confessional  questions  the  votes  shall  first 
be  taken  of  those  m^em^bers  who  belong  to  the  partic- 
ular Confession  concerned,  a?id  their  decision  shall 
form,  the  collective  basis  of  the  resolution. 

15* 


346  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

It  must  then  be  the  praxjtical  execution  of  these 
administrative  principles  proposed  by  the  Supreme  Ec- 
clesiastical Council  and  sanctioned  by  the  King,  which 
has  produced  such  undesirable  consequences,  called  out 
complaints,  excited  the  King's  displeasure,  and  thus  led 
to  the  second  Edict  of  the  12th  July,  1853.  Our  next 
and  most  necessary  step,  therefore,  must  be  to  examine 
the  measures  of  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council 
during  the  interval  between  the  two  royal  Edicts,  by 
the  help  of  the  published  "  State  Papers."  That  smce 
that  admonitory  Edict,  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Coun- 
cil has  altered,  as  far  as  possible,  the  course  on  which 
they  had  entered,  can  not  be  doubted.  We  know,  how- 
ever, from  the  best  sources — ^from  Stahl's  Oration — how 
far  he  has  been  carried  by  the  view  of  the  subject  which 
he  adopted.  That  the  uneasiness  and  apprehensions  of 
the  country  have  not  ceased  is  also  no  secret.  On  whom 
does  the  fault  chiefly  rest  ? 

It  is  clear  that  the  greatest  circumspection  was  neces- 
sary in  carrying  into  execution  the  Royal  Edict  of  the 
6th  March,  1852;  particularly  with  regard  to  the  third 
point  contained  in  it.  For,  otherwise,  how  could  the 
government  of  the  Church  be  distinguished  from  that 
over  two,  not  united,  but  merely  allied,  Churches,  stand- 
ing side  by  side  with  a  United  Church,  which  formed 
the  exception  ?  Nay,  even  in  the  old  German  Empire, 
the  Catholic  and  Protestant  members  voted  together, 
except  where  the  matter  before  them  related  to  contested 
points  of  religion  ;  but  no  one  ever  called  this  a  Union. 
But  what  was  more  to  the  point,  this,  in  substance,  was 
the  general  practice  long  before  the  Union  subsisted, 
wherever  a  Consistory  directly  subject  to  the  Crown 
held  supremacy,  and  governed  both  Confessions  as  far  aa 
was  practicable. 


DUTY  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  COUNCIL.       347 

But  what  is  to  be  done  if  one  and  another  of  the 
members  should  declare  that,  as  a  United  Evangelical 
Christian,  he  belongs  to  both  Confessions  ?  According 
to  the  view  which  appears  to  us  alone  tenable,  this  was 
the  only  correct  answer.  In  case  of  such  a  declaration, 
however,  unless  all  joined  in  it,  the  only  practical  way 
of  coming  to  a  decision  would  seem  to  be  that  such  a 
Union-member  of  the  Council  should  vote  in  all  cases, 
the  others  (who,  properly  speaking,  ought  to  have  no 
vote  at  all)  only  as  representatives  of  the  Confessions 
concerned. 

Lastly,  this  regulation  was,  at  all  events,  a  mere  ex- 
periment. If  in  practice  it  encountered  difficulties,  if  it 
even  threatened  the  stability  of  the  Union,  the  part  of 
the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  (as  it  appears  to  me) 
was  either  to  recognize  that  the  whole  conception  was  a 
mistake,  inasmuch  as  it  could  not  be  carried  out  without 
destroying,  or  at  least  shaking,  the  Union ;  or,  at  all 
events,  the  Council  should,  in  consideration  of  these 
results,  have  obtained  from  the  King  fresh  rules  for  the 
conduct  of  their  proceedings.  But  we  hear  nothing  of 
any  steps  of  this  kind ;  while  we  are  well  aware,  from 
Stahl's  speech  of  the  29th  March,  ''  that  the  Union 
AS  A  Consensus  is  the  exception  in  Pkussia" — 
that  is  to  say,  in  plain  language,  that  the  Union  forms 
the  exception  in  the  United  National  Church  as  govern- 
ed by  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council^  or  rather 
as  thoroughly  reorganized  since  1850.  But,  unhappily, 
on  the  14th  of  July,  Stahl's  programme  of  1849  tri- 
umphed. The  following  is  all  that  is  communicated  to 
us  by  published  documents  concerning  the  decisive 
point  of  the  manner  in  which  the  first  Edict  was  carried 
into  effect. 

It  was  communicated  to  the  Provincial  Consistories 


348  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

under  date  of  the  10th  May,  and  the  corresponding 
instructions  followed  on  the  12th.  In  these,  also,  the 
members  of  the  Consistories  were  called  on  to  distinguish 
themselves  as  Lutherans,  Reformed,  or  Evangelical  {itio 
in  partes) ;  and,  as  far  as  I  know,  with  very  dissimilar 
results. 

The  answers  sent  in  by  the  various  Consistories,  and 
the  practical  results  that  ensued,  are  well  known  from 
the  numberless  communications  in  the  public  prints; 
and  we  see,  from  the  King's  second  Edict,  that  scarcely 
a  year  had  elapsed  before  such  numerous  complaints, 
grievances  and  apprehensions  had  arisen,  that  the  King 
thought  it  high  time  to  withhold  no  longer  from  the 
Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  the  expression  of  his 
displeasure.  This  Edict  speaks  in  severe  terms  of  efforts 
in  behalf  of  the  separate  Confessions  which  were  under- 
mining the  order  of  the  Church ;  nay,  declares  that 
*' instances  are  said  to  have  occurred,"  where  "  Synodal 
Assemblies,  nay,  even  individual  clergymen,  have  re- 
solved to  renounce,  on  behalf  of  the  congregation,  the 
title  of  an  Evangelical  Church  and  the  use  of  the  Union 
Liturgy." 

But  even  what  we  learn  from  the  published  transac- 
tions of  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council,  gives  us  a 
glimpse  of  the  perilous  conjuncture  to  which  Stahl's 
view  had  led  in  carrying  out  the  principles  sanctioned 
by  the  King,  and  the  great  embarrassments  which  could 
not  fail  to  ensue  to  the  King  and  the  country. 

On  the  14th  of  July,  1852,  the  President  von 
Uechtritz  called  upon  the  members  present  to  declare, 
*'in  which  of  the  two  divisions  they  would  vote  in  case 
of  confessional  questions  being  brought  before  them?" 
Dr.  Stahl  had  proved  the  necessity  of  this  question  in  a 
juridical  memorial. 


COURSE  ADOPTED  BY  THE  COUNCIL.  349 

The  President  and  five  other  members  (Bishop 
Neander  and  MM.  Strausz,  von  Miihler,  Twesten,  and 
Bichter)  declared  themselves  Lutherans,  but  with  the 
addition,  "  in  the  sense  given  to  that  term  by  his  Majes- 
ty's Cabinet  Order  of  the  28th  of  February,  1834." 
With  the  same  addition  the  Chaplain-General  BoUert, 
and  Dr.  Snethlage  declared  themselves  of  the  Reformed 
Church.  Stahl  was  the  only  one  who  refi^ined  from 
this,  to  some  extent,  satisfactory  addition.  He  declared 
imconditionally,  '"'I  declare  myself  a  member  of  the 
Lutheran  confession."  That  is  as  much  as  to  say  (as 
the  Evangelische  Kirchenzeitimg  also  remarks),  "I 
choose  to  sit  in  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  as  a 
pure  Lutheran." 

In  October,  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Ehrenberg,  who 
before  the  Union  had  been  a  member  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  his  place  was  filled  up  by  M.  Cappell,  who, 
originally  of  the  Reformed  Church,  had  gone  over  to 
the  Lutheran  Confession^  and  who  made  the  same 
unconditional  declaration  as  Stahl.  This  was,  in  fiict, 
a  victory,  and  a  very  remarkable  one  for  Stahl. 

But  we  have  not  yet  spoken  of  the  man  who  is  almost 
universally  throughout  Germany  considered  as  the  first 
of  Evangelical  theologians,  whom  the  country  honors 
as  a  liberal  citizen,  and  on  whom  the  king  has  since 
conferred  the  most  distinguished  post  in  the  Church,  in 
appointing  him  Provost  of  Berlin.  Before  the  sitting 
of  the  12th  July,  Nitzsch  had  made  a  written  declara- 
tion '''' that  he  belonged  to  both  Confessions;  that  is, 
to  the  Consensus  of  both,^''  Not  only  does  such  a  dec- 
laration fiiil  to  surprise  us,  but,  as  we  have  hinted  above, 
we  are  unable  to  imagine  any  other  equally  good.  But 
we  are  surprised  at  the  decision  which  followed  upon  it ; 
namely,  that  for  the  future  Dr.  Nitzsch  should  take  no 


850  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

part  in  the  decision  of  confessional  questions.  That  he 
himself  should  have  expressed  a  wish  to  take  no  part  in 
them  is  very  natural.  He  knew  what  was  the  point  in 
question — namely,  the  Union  :  and  what  was  the  object 
of  those  confessional  questions — namely  to  shake  it. 
For  the  present  mode  of  conducting  affairs  could  not  but 
expose  the  Union  to  great  dangers,  however  it  might  be 
desired  to  maintain  it  intact. 

Practically,  this  measure  simply  means  that  the  Lu- 
therans should  decide  whether  the  Union  Liturgy  and 
Constitution  endangered  their  Confession  or  not ;  which 
was  to  subject  the  Union  to  a  severe  test.  The  funda- 
mental principle  laid  down,  was  that  the  Union  should 
be  maintained  in  the  sense  attached  to  that  term  by 
Frederic  William  III.  Thus,  the  more  fitting  mode  of 
carrying  into  effect  this  regulation  of  the  first  Edict  of 
the  present  sovereign,  would  have  been  that  the  Lu- 
theran members  should  have  discussed  this  point  among 
themselves  in  the  first  place,  but  that  the  others  should 
also  have  been  allowed  to  express  their  views  as  freely 
on  the  subject  as  though  no  previous  discussion  had 
taken  place.  Thus  it  would  have  been  possible  that  a 
Resolution  quite  different  from  that  of  the  Lutheran 
majority  should  be  passed,  or  laid  before  the  King  for 
his  sanction. 

Unfortunately,  this  was  not  the  course  adopted.  All 
the  Consistories  were  required  to  declare  themselves 
Lutheran,  Reformed,  or  United.  The  measure  proved 
abortive  in  practice,  owing  to  the  good  sense  of  many 
of  these  boards.  In  most,  it  remained  a  dead  letter. 
It  is  said  to  have  done  so  in  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical 
Council  itself  Dr.  Grober,  the  venerable  Superinten- 
dant  General  of  Westphalia,  returned  the  same  answer  as 
NitzBch.     But  the  system  remains,  and  may  sooner  or 


THE  TITLE  EVANGELICAL.  351 

later  be  carried  into  effect.  From  their  own  confessions, 
we  know  what  is  aimed  at  by  a  certain  active  party. 
It  can  not  but  be  regarded  with  indignation,  even  by  one 
who  should  not  regard  the  whole  proceeding  as  funda- 
mentally incompatible  and  at  variance  with  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Union,  and  thinks  that  the  Supreme 
Ecclesiastical  Council  ought  never  to  have  proposed  such 
a  measure  to  the  King.  And  the  proposal  itself,  still 
more  the  way  in  which  it  was  practically  carried  out, 
up  to  the  issuing  of  the  second  Edict,  must  be  deeply 
regretted  even  by  those  who  do  not  perceive  that  its 
motive  was  to  obtain,  by  its  practical  working  and  the 
choice  of  persons  for  appointments,  that  which  would 
never  have  been  obtained  from  the  King  by  direct 
means — ^namely,  the  surrender  of  what  so  many  mil- 
lions call  the  Union. 

Dr.  Stahl  seems  really  to  have  succeeded  in  raising 
to  supremacy  that  system  which  Richter  delineated  in 
1849,  and  whose  organ  our  acute  opponent  had  consti- 
tuted himself. 

An  important  State  Paper,  dated  the  Tth  of  July, 
1853,  and  entitled,  "Edict  addressed  to  the  Consistory 
of  N.,"  affords  us  some  insight  into  the  intended  appli- 
cation of  this  mischievous  dissension-sowing  regulation. 
The  question  concerns  the  use  of  the  term  "  Evangeli- 
cal" to  designate  the  congregations  of  the  United 
Church,  according  to  the  usage  established  by  Frederic 
William  III.  in  his  Edict  of  30th  April,  1830,  and  the 
circular  of  the  Minister  for  Ecclesiastical  Affairs  issued 
on  the  5th  of  May  in  the  same  year.  Now  we  have 
seen  from  our  historical  survey,  that  this  title,  without 
any  addition,  is  the  one  legally  established.  The  pro- 
ject of  the  Ministry  in  1817,  recommended  the  disuse 
of  the  more  precise  designation  of  Evangelical  Lutheran, 


352  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

or  Evangelical  Reformed.     From  this  Dr.  Stahl  draws 
this  conclusion : 

"  That  the  title  '  Evangelical/  besides  denoting  the  acceptance 
of  the  Union  ritual,  presupposes  a  special  act,  although  uncon- 
nected with  any  prescribed  formality.  Thus,  the  fact  that  a 
congregation  is  United,  must,  in  the  first  place,  like  every  other 
fact,  be  certified  by  authentic  documents." 

I  confess  that  such  a  procedure  seems  to  me  almost 
as  unintelligible  as  it  is  illegal.  For  the  Edict  in 
question  expressly  recognizes  that  the  simple  designation 
as  Evangelical  has  been  since  then  often  employed  in 
State  papers  as  synonymous  with  United  National 
Church,  and  is  so  in  the  most  important  royal  Edict  of 
the  present  reign,  the  General  Concession  of  the  23d 
July,  1845  (the  act  granting  toleration  to  the  separa- 
tistic  Lutherans  in  Silesia),  and  the  patent  of  the  31st 
of  March,  1847,  as  well  as  in  Article  XV.  of  the  Con- 
stitution. 

This  title,  is,  indeed,  still  to  be  preserved  as  a  rule 
except  when  a  more  precise  definition  of  the  Confession 
is  necessary  for  identification,  or  on  account  of  the  rela- 
tion of  the  title-deed  to  the  Confession,  or  in  case  the 
use  of  a  particular  confessional  title  should  be  pro- 
posed by  duly  qualified  persons. 

But  the  whole  question  should  never  have  been  raised 
at  all.  Not  all  the  congregations  had,  like  those  of  the 
Rhenish  and  Westphalian  Church,  made  an  official  affi- 
davit of  then-  acceptance  of  the  Union ;  probably  it  had 
occurred  to  very  few  that  any  distinction  existed  be- 
tween the  acceptance  of  the  Union  and  the  adoption  of 
the  title  "Evangelical;"  they  acted  on  trust.  Now 
the  ashes  of  Frederic  William  III.  are  again  disturbed ; 
but  it  is  further  clear  that  with  the  help  of  those  two 
clauses  it  would  be  easy  throughout  the  country  to  find 


DANGERS  TO  THE  UNION.  353 

a  legal  ground  of  questioning  the  very  thing  itself  that 
is  the  Union.  Have  not  the  patron  and  the  pastor  cer- 
tain legal  rights  ?  and  can  not  the  President  of  the  Con- 
sistory, and  the  Supreme  President  of  the  Province, 
and  all  the  Provincial  Councils,  work  toward  this  ob- 
ject ?  nay,  are  not  those  among  them  obliged  to  do  so 
who  regard  the  Union  as  a  misfortune  ? 

What  the  practical  result  of  this  procedure  is,  we 
are  told  by  those  words,  which,  though  Stahl  places 
them  in  a  parenthesis,  in  the  midst  of  a  long  note  on 
the  Union,  are  weighty  indeed : 

"  The  Consensus  is  the  exception  in  Pi^ussia.^' 
Once  more  I  repeat,  this  necessarily  means — ''  The 
Union  is  the  exception  in  Prussia,  if  the  claims 

OF  THE   separate  THEOLOGICAL   CONFESSIONS  ARE  TO 

hold  that  rank  which  is  assigned  to  them  by 
Dr.  Stahl." 


A    SUMMARY 

OP  THE  RESULT  OP  OUR  INQUIRIES  WITH  RESPECT 
TO  THE  STATE  OF  PROTESTANT  •"CHRISTIANITY  IN 
PRUSSIA  AND  GERMANY  GENERALLY. 

The  history  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  legal 
conditions  of  the  Union,  from  1817  to  1853,  lies 
before  us,  my  honored  friend.  Judge  of  it  for  your- 
self. 

Even  if  some  isolated  facts  may  be  adduced  against 
our  view,  the  attempt  to  make  the  question  of  the 
Union  dependent  upon^  the  confessional  preliminary 
question  is  a  failure,  and  has  done  harm.  Lutheranism 
has  been  sown — the  seed  has  sprung  up  and  yielded  a 
harvest  of  fanaticism.  Provincialism  has  been  planted, 
and  lo !  division  shoots  forth  •'  Confessionalism  has 
been  favored,  and  behold  the  Union  is  shaken  to  its 
foundation  !  Our  rulers  have  acted  upon  Stahl's  decla- 
ration of  1849,  that  the  thing  needed  was  protection  for 
the  distinctive  Confessions  which  stood  in  jeopardy,  and 
lo !  the  Union  Church  threatens  to  fly  asunder  in  three 
pieces ;  so  far  at  least  as  the  administration  of  afiairs  by 
the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  has  power  to  effect 
such  a  result.  It  reminds  one  of  the  deep  prophetic 
saying,  "For  they  have  sown  the  wind,  and  they  shall 
reap  the  whirlwind."     (Hosea  viii.  7.) 

From  this  present  mode  of  managing  our  ecclesias- 
tical affairs,  no  good  result  is  to  be  hoped,  notwithstand- 


APPEAL  TO  THE  KING.  355 

ing  the  evidently  excellent  intentions  of  the  King,  and 
the  Christian  wisdom  and  experience  which  are  found 
collected  in  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council,  and 
to  which  I  gladly  pay  the  meed  of  my  sincere  admira- 
tion. 

The  King  alone,  who  can  not  but  know  the  facts  of 
the  case,  and  who  has  shown  his  wisdom  in  the  Edict  of 
1853,  may  still  find  the  means  of  averting  the  evils 
which  menace  us.  It  is  not  too  late.  Nay,  the  present 
seems  to  me  a  most  favorable  moment,  from  those  very 
signs  of  the  times  which  we  have  been  engaged  in  con- 
templating. The  hopeful  and  pregnant  germs  which 
we  have  discovered  ought  to  inspire  courage  :  the  grave 
and  threatening  facts  cry  aloud  for  a  prompt  right  royal 
course  of  action.  Misconceptions  exist — mistrust  has 
been  conceived — anxiety  fills  faithful  hearts  and  thought- 
ful minds — ^the  departments  of  the  ecclesiastical  execu- 
tive are  divided  and  perplexed — the  theological  faculty  at 
our  universities  is  paralyzed,  and  knows  not  which  way  to 
turn — while  the  divinity  students  and  candidates  are 
sinking  lower  and  lower  in  point  af  intellectual  culture, 
even  as  compared  with  the  Catholics.  But  all  as  yet  is 
capable  of  remedy. 

The  years  1848  and  1849  have  awakened  within  our 
Church  germs  of  life  that  are  rich  in  blessing ;  men's 
hearts  are  longing  more  than  ever  for  evangelical  Chris- 
tianity and  united  congregational  action.  This  senti- 
ment, as  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  lever  by  which  to  operate. 
Let  the  authorities  in  the  first  place  cease  to  ask,  when 
a  man  presents  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  office  of 
schoolmaster,  still  more  that  of  pastor,  "  Are  you 
Lutheran  or  Reformed?"  but  simply  inquire  who  is 
best  fitted  to  be  useful  in  the  office  to  the  congregation 
of  a  United  Church.     The  Union  Confession  is  incom- 


356  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

patible  with  a  disruption  of  the  Church  into  three  bodies 
standing  on  a  footing  of  parity.  All  that  has  been  said 
in  this  sense,  and  all  the  efforts  that  have  been  made  in 
this  direction  by  the  administrative  authorities,  must  be 
regarded  as  an  error,  and,  as  such,  set  aside.  How  this 
may  best  be  accomplished  must  be  left  to  the  royal  saga- 
city to  decide. 

The  second  point,  on  which  much  will  depend,  is  to 
make  it  perfectly  clear  how  the  scrupulous  tenderness 
of  two  pious  monarchs  for  the  two  Confessions  of  the 
sixteenth  century  could  be  perfectly  satisfied  without,  in 
any  respect,  paralyzing,  still  less  dissolving,  the  Union. 
The  Lutheran  embodiment  of  the  common  evangelical 
type  has  already,  I  think,  secured  to  itself  full  freedom ; 
but  if  this  be  anywhere  wanting,  let  Lutheranism  have 
all  that  it  demands,  on  the  ground  of  universal  religious 
liberty :  with  one  exception,  viz.,  that  it  is  not  to  replace 
a  positive  by  a  negative  type.  Let  it  refuse,  if  it  will, 
to  receive  the  seal  of  the  Union  ;  this  is  not,  and  never 
will  be  required  of  it.  But  let  those  who  do  not  think 
they  can  uphold  the  saving  faith  in  its  integrity,  without 
refusing  communion  to  the  Reformed,  on  account  of 
their  differences — those  to  whom  the  "ultimate  end — 
the  perfect  fusion  of  both  elements,"  is  an  abomination, 
seriously  consider  whether  theirs  is  a  truly  evangelical 
temper  of  mind ;  and  if  they  in  their  conscience  find  it 
so,  let  them  depart  in  peace. 

The  process  of  mutual  fusion  has  its  lowest  as  well  as 
its  highest  stage,  from  the  mere  recognition  of  the  Union 
through  the  common  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
and  the  unity  of  organization  and  discipline,  up  to  com- 
plete fusion  through  the  positive  working  out  of  common 
doctrines ;  but  no  boundary  line  ought  to  be  drawn  be- 
tween these  two  points.     One  congregation  may  with  its 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  UNITED  CHURCH.   357 

pastor  restrict  itself  to  the  use  of  Luther's  Catechism  ; 
another  to  that  of  Heidelberg ;  a  third  may  (as  is  often 
the  case)  use  the  smaller  Catechism  of  Luther  for  the 
younger  catechumenSj  and  that  of  Heidelberg  for  the 
more  advanced ;  or,  finally,  prefer  to  both,  the  organic 
fusion  of  the  two  which  has  just  been  framed  in  Baden. 
It  is  the  same  with  the  Liturgy.  Its  general  type  is 
already  thoroughly  Lutheran,  and  not  Reformed.  If  it 
should  ever  be  delivered  from  its  present  crippled  and 
half-developed  condition,  and  made  really  congregational, 
it  would  not  only  be  brought  nearer  to  the  Reformed,  but 
also  to  the  Apostolic,  and  therefore  truly  evangelical 
Church,  and  thereby  to  the  fundamental  idea  of  Luther. 
But  as  regards  the  third  element,  the  constitution  of 
the  Church — therefore,  in  the  first  place,  its  government 
— every  division  according  to  Confessions  is  an  intrinsic 
contradiction  of  the  Union;  and  if  so  now,  under  the 
dictatorship  of  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council,  it 
would  be  still  more  the  case  in  the  free  constitution  of 
an  independent  Church,  such  as  we  are  aiming  at.  The 
Union  is  a  communion  in  worship  and  in  congregational 
life,  or  it  is  nothing.  Christianity  itself  presents  the 
example  of  such  a  union  in  its  first  beginnings ;  for  we 
find  Jewish  Christians  and  Gentile  Christians — followers 
of  Peter  and  followers  of  Paul.  All  finite  life,  spiritual 
as  well  as  natural,  proceeds  from  the  close  intertwining 
of  opposite  conditions,  from  the  play  of  two  opposite 
poles.  The  opposition  between  Luther  and  Calvin 
vanishes  in  the  Gospel,  as  that  between  Peter  and 
Paul  does  in  Christ.  In  this  manner  we  might  see 
the  principle  verified  which  has  been  propounded  above  : 
"  Toleration  for  all^  even  for  the  Intolerant ;  but 
not  for  the  Intolerance  of  such  as  are  exclusive  on 
pri?iciple.^^ 


358  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

But  liberty  is  the  condition  divinely  attached  to  the 
solution  of  antagonisms  in  history.  The  banner  of  per- 
fect religious  liberty  is  the  sign  in  which  the  truly 
Christian  State  will  be  victorious — the  truly  Evangelical 
Church  will  triumph.  This  liberty  will  teach  the  Chris- 
tian Government  to  take  up  the  proper  attitude  at  once 
toward  the  Christian  people  and  the  hierarchy.  This, 
and  this  alone,  affords  any  possibility  of  escape  from  our 
present  perplexities. 

But  in  order  to  have  any  real  vital  efficacy  it  must 
not  remain  a  shadow,  but  become  a  practical  truth.  A 
free  Church  with  a  consistorial  polity  as  its  final  form 
is  a  self-contradiction ;  a  synodal  or  episcopal  Church 
broken  up  into  districts  governed  by  superintendents 
has  no  living  energy.  We  do  not  want  bishoprics  but 
Churches  !  But  that  these  Churches  may  be  able  to 
govern  themselves,  let  a  bishop,  appointed  for  life  by 
the  Synod,  stand  at  their  head.  It  was,  no  doubt,  the 
proper  course  to  take  in  preparing  the  way  for  such 
a  free  type  of  the  Church  to  begin  with  organizing 
the  local  congregations.  But,  at  the  same  time,  the 
final  aim — namely,  the  freedom  of  the  whole  Church  of 
the  future — ought  to  be  set  before  the  Congregation  and 
their  elders  in  unmistakable  terms.  No  really  benefi- 
cial progress  in  the  organization  of  the  Church  can  be 
looked  for  unless  the  summons  to  the  people  find  a  ready 
echo  in  hearts  filled  with  joyful  and  spontaneous  life ; 
and  how  is  this  possible  if  they  are  uncertain  and  doubt- 
ful as  to  the  object  in  view !  The  aim  of  Stahl's  pro- 
gramme, for  instance,  or  at  least  its  inevitable  conse- 
quence, would  be  slavery  under  the  delusive  semblance 
of  freedom. 

It  is  not  by  such  a  path,  nor  by  following  the  word 
of  such  prophets,  that  we  shall  attain  that  which  was 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  UNITED  CHURCH.       359 

the  declared  and  constitutional  aim  of  the  King — self- 
existent  congregational  Churches,  that  is  to  say,  inde- 
pendent well-organized  communities  capable  of  govern- 
ing themselves.  This  is  the  true  aim ;  but  the  necessity 
of  placing  and  keeping  it  before  the  eyes  of  all  is  yet 
more  urgent  now  than  in  1850.  It  is  the  bounden  duty 
of  our  rulers  to  declare  their  intentions  by  whatever 
mode  is  most  unambiguous  and  most  calculated  to  in- 
spire confidence.  It  can  not  be  overlooked  or  forgotten 
how  the  articles  of  the  Constitution  affecting  this  point 
have  been  carried  into  practice  by  one  of  the  most  influ- 
ential members  of  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council, 
who  is,  besides,  the  organ  of  a  still  more  influential 
party  in  Church  and  State.  The  recommendations  of 
his  published  report  would  point  to  a  permanent  govern- 
mental machine  worked  by  the  Cabinet  and  the  Royal 
Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council,  to  which  all  Protestant 
Christians  should  be  yoked  as  to  a  triumphal  car — and 
this  in  the  name  of  Christ,  to  God's  glory,  and  under 
the  title  of  a  free,  self-governing  Evangelical  Church ! 
It  is  important  to  do  away  with  this  impression,  for  it 
has  a  very  mischievous  influence.  Under  any  circum- 
stances, congregational  action  requires  great  self-sacri- 
fice, as  does  all  true  freedom.  Who  will  undertake  it 
without  knowing  to  what  end  ?  without  feeling  that  his 
efforts  are  duly  rewarded  by  the  independence  secured 
to  the  whole  Church,  and  to  his  own  particular  sphere  ? 
And  how  is  the  further  and  permanent  development 
of  the  Church  conceivable  without  such  a  sense  of 
security  ? 

The  first  necessity  is  that  the  congregational  bond 
should  lead  to  a  wider  ecclesiastical  bond,  that  of  the 
Church  diocese,  as  we  have  hinted  above.  An  inde- 
pendent union  of  churches — the  diocese  of  the  ancient 


860  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Church — presupposes  an  independence  in  the  existing 
spiritual  and  external  means.  The  council  of  such  an 
Episcopal  or  Congregational  Church  must,  generally, 
have  its  seat  in  the  city  which  forms  the  center  of  the 
Union. 

I  proved,  as  I  thiak,  in  1848,  that  in  the  six  ecclesi- 
astical provinces  into  which  Prussia  naturally  falls, 
there  are,  at  most,  not  above  sixty  such  towns — ten  in 
each.  But  a  third  of  this  number  is  suflficient,  and 
would  be  more  practicable.  Thus,  besides  the  six  uni- 
versity cities,  we  should  need  only  fourteen  considerable 
and  wealthy  cities.  But  as  I  have  shown  above,  if  our 
governors  persist  in  dividing  our  National  Church  into 
circles — that  is  to  say,  small  unions  like  our  present 
nearly  four  hundred  superintendencies — either  they 
really  do  not  intend  that  the  Church  should  be  inde- 
pendent, or  they  expose  themselves  to  such  an  imputa- 
tion. For  such  small  unions  can  not  act  for  themselves, 
but  require  guidance  from  the  superior  authorities ;  and 
whence  can  this  guidance  come  from  but  the  Cabinet  or 
the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  ?  Synods  can  neither 
govern  nor  administer. 

The  apostolic  character  of  the  Congregation  consists 
in  its  independence.  It  does  not  consist  in  this  or  that 
arrangement  of  officers,  but  in  the  freedom  from  inter- 
ference by  officers  external  to  itself—thus  in  deciding 
for  itself  on  important  points.  The  mixture  of  a  free 
synodal  constitution  with  a  consistoral  executive  govern- 
ment, accepted  by  the  Synod  of  1846,  is  an  error,  if 
regarded  as  permanent.  With  some,  the  acceptance  of 
the  scheme  was  a  compromise  agreed  to  in  despair  as  the 
only  one  that  presented  itself :  with  some  it  was  the  re- 
sult of  political  immaturity.  Nothing  is  accomplished 
in  the  long  run  by  the  resolutions  passed  in  mere  de- 


A.  SYNODAL  CONSTITUTION.  3^1 

liberative  assemblies ;  it  is  felt  that  the  executive  gov- 
ernment must  be  connected  with  the  Synod — ^that  the 
administration  must  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Congregation. 
Above  all  things  it  is  necessary  to  take  for  granted  the 
capacity  of  each  individual  Church  for  self-government, 
on  the  ground  of  the  common  sentiment  of  its  members. 
In  spite  of  all  its  defects,  the  episcopate  of  the  primitive 
and  of  the  Anglican  Churches  is  strong  in  itself,  and  in 
the  hold  which  it  has  upon  men's  minds  by  reason  of  its 
independent  character;  and  the  true  apostolic  consecra- 
tion of  the  Bishops  does  not  lie  in  any  imaginary  apos- 
tolical succession,  but  in  their  official  independence 
toward  the  secular  power,  even  more  than  toward  the 
laity  and  parochial  clergy,  and  in  their  possessing  in 
the  Church  revenues  the  means  of  maintaining  their 
independence. 

Moreover,  it  is  most  imperative  that  securities  should 
be  given  with  regard  to  these  sources  of  revenue ;  for 
the  Protestant  National  Church  does  not  possess  a  penny 
beyond  its  purely  parochial  necessities.  The  expense 
of  the  Synod  weighs  upon  the  congregations.  If  the 
Government  took  a  frank  course  of  proceeding,  they 
would  find  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  such  means  from  the 
House  of  Representatives.  The  Catholic  party  could 
not  vote  against  that  which  they  are  demanding  for 
their  own  Church.  The  measures  required  lie  patent 
as  soon  as  we  tear  asunder  the  meshes  of  the  sophistical 
net  in  which  the  subject  has  been  wrapt  up  in  Stahl's 
report  and  the  papers  connected  with  it,  in  order  to 
make  the  whole  affair  unintelligible  and  untangible. 

Let  the  laity  be  told  that  the  Synods  are  to  stand 
above  all  Bishops,  as  the  whole  is  superior  to  the  indi- 
vidual. But  above  all  it  is  indispensable  to  set  men's 
consciences  at  rest  by  giving  them  an  authentic  and  un- 

16 


362  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

ambiguous  assurance  that  there  is  no  intention  of  im- 
posing on  the  Church  any  rule  of  faith,  or  ultimate 
standard,  but  the  Word  of  God,  us  understood  by  their 
living  consciences.  According  to  the  fundamental  idea 
of  Protestantism,  there  is  no  "revealed  truth"  for  the 
Church  but  in  the  Bible ;  there  is  no  expounder  of  this 
truth  but  the  Spirit  which  is  given  to  the  Church ;  there 
is  no  final  aim  but  the  realization  of  the  Divine  in  the 
Church,  that  through  her  the  kingdom  of  God  may  be 
built  up.  The  Lutheran  type  of  the  hierarchy  is  the 
most  narrow-minded  and  unfruitful  af  which  history 
furnishes  an  example.  The  Union  has,  for  the  first 
time,  rendered  that  possible  in  Germany  which  was  done 
for  England  three  hundred  years  ago  by  the  Common 
Prayer-book,  although  not  in  a  form  that  is  absolutely 
typical  and  of  universal  applicability.  With  us  in 
Germany  the  Spirit  of  God  working  in  Luther,  and  in 
that  popular  mind  on  which  his  mantle  fell,  had  al- 
ready begun  to  bring  about  this  Union  by  our  unique 
treasure  of  sacred  poetry,  the  Divine  Iliad  in  Hymns, 
the  unbroken  succession  of  the  Divine  inspiration  of 
the  German  people  concerning  the  world's  history ;  but 
they  lacked  the  seal  of  a  common  worship  and  a  common 
organization. 

Thus  what  we  want  is  more  of  Luther's  spirit,  but  no 
modern  Lutheranism !  No  new  papacy  in  England  !  No 
State  Church  in  Holland !  Let  us  not  be  entangled 
amid  the  icy  bonds  of  old  forms,  and  frozen  into  the 
rigidity  of  death  !  The  Spirit  impels  us  to  look  back  to 
the  Church  of  our  forefathers  with  fresh  love,  that  we 
may  drink  into  their  spirit,  but  not  that  we  may  erect 
into  a  new  law  the  letter  of  institutions  long  since  de- 
funct. 

So,  too,  we  want  more  of  a  confession — yea,  more 


WHAT  IS  WANTED.  363 

than  a  confession.  The  solemn  and  sanctifying  vow  of 
the  Christian  people  organized  into  a  Church,  the  vow 
of  the  Congregation,  is  the  highest  and  final  form :  a 
vow  pledged  in  the  midst  of  the  realities  of  life,  and  af- 
fecting those  realities.  But  we  want  no  new  theological 
dogmatic  Confession  as  the  banner  of  a  denomination, 
were  it  even  the  best  I  know,  that  of  the  Berlin  Synod 
of  1846. 

So,  again,  we  want  a  beautiful  form  of  public  wor- 
ship for  the  Congregation,  but  no  Agenda  in  the  hands 
of  the  clergy  alone ;  nor  yet  modem  arbitrary  and  ar- 
tificial forms  of  devotion.  We  already  possess  general 
forms  of  public  prayer,  and  should,  and  shall  frame  for 
ourselves  yet  more  perfect  ones;  forms  which  are  sim- 
pler, profounder,  and  speak  more  to  our  own  souls. 

Now  the  final  end  of  all  public  worship  is  adoration, 
and  the  beginning  and  end  of  adoration  is  the  Christian 
vow  :  whether  it  be  the  general  vow  contained  in  the  be- 
liever's earliest  vow  in  baptism,  and  in  the  communion 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  as  also  on  occasion  of  birth, 
death,  and  burial ;  or  whether  it  be  the  special  vow  of 
marriage,  or  entrance  into  the  office  of  the  ministry,  or 
any  other  occasion  that  may  call  for  the  sanction  of  the 
Church.  The  vow  is  the  spontaneous — therefore  the 
Protestant — element  in  the  Divine  life  of  the  individual 
as  of  the  Congregation.  Such  terms  as  baptism,  con- 
firmation, ordination,  only  express  what  is  special  and 
subordinate ;  the  outward  sign  and  seal  added  to  the 
vow  would  be  unscriptural  and  unreasonable  without  the 
previous  voluntary  and  conscious  promise.  Many  of  the 
forms  prescribed  in  connection  with  these  rites  are  the 
mere  renmants  of  the  mediaeval  transition-era  (with  its 
passive  rather  than  divinely  active  conception  of  faith), 
and  tainted  by  a  priestly  spirit.     Thus  in  the  arrange- 


364  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

ment  of  liturgical  questions,  which  are  now  taken  up  m 
such  an  arbitrary  and  piecemeal  manner,  and  generally 
with  such  want  of  intelligence  and  utter  absence  of  tact, 
the  leadings  of  God's  Spirit  point  to  the  revival  of  the 
consciousness  of  the  vow,  its  intellectual  development 
and  congregational  application.  But  the  end  and  aim 
of  all  vows  and  adoration  is  not  to  be  found  in  them- 
selves, but  in  their  practical  fulfillment  in  life  through 
the  faith  that  worketh  by  love — not  by  zeal  which  easily 
goes  astray,  and  often  leads  to  sin,  but  by  brotherly 
love,  the  fruit  of  thankful  love  to  God. 

To  sum  up  all  that  we  have  said  in  a  few  words. 
The  Christian's  life  finds  its  divinely  appointed  and  per- 
manent sphere  in  the  practical  following  of  Christ  in  the 
family,  the  Church,  and  the  State ;  and  its  aim  and  ob- 
ject is  the  development  of  a  free,  conscious  moral  per- 
sonality, or  of  the  spirit.  The  most  beautiful  of  all 
Divine  services  is  a  life  well-pleasing  to  God;  and  in 
that,  too,  it  is  not  the  works  but  the  spirit  that  is  the 
essence  ;  how  much  more  so  in  adoration  !  Every  thing 
rests  upon  the  Ecclesia  of  the  Bible  and  the  Bible  of 
the  Ecclesia!  But  the  root  of  the  Ecclesia  and  her 
Divine  life  is  personality — that  alone  is  an  end  in  itself. 


THE    CONCLUSION. 

THE   SiaNIFICANCE   OF  THE  TWO   SIGNS  OF  OTJR  TIMES. 

The  Feast  of  St.  Michael  the  Archangel, 

29th  September,  1855. 

"  Und  Stunne  brausen  um  die  Wette, 
Vom  Meer  auf  s  Land,  vom  Land  auf  s  Meer, 
Und  bilden  wiithend  eine  Kette 
Der  tiefsten  Wirkung  rings  umher. 
Da  flammt  ein  bhtzendes  Verheeren 
Dem  Pfade  vor  dea  Donnerschlags ; 
Doch  deine  Boten,  Herr,  verehren 
Das  sanfte  Wandeln  deines  Tags." 

So  sings  the  high  Messenger  of  God,  the  Angel  of 
Judgment,  contemplating  the  magnificence  of  the  works 
of  God ;  and  as  he  perceives  the  wisdom  which  has  or- 
dered all  things,  he  exclaims,  worthy  of  the  name  he 
bears,  "Who  is  like  unto  God?"  You  and  I,  my 
friend,  at  all  events,  think  that  the  great  poet  on  whose 
natal  day  we  commenced  this  our  last  discussion,  has  in 
his  prologue  to  "Faust"  made  the  Archangel  speak  in 
a  manner  not  unworthy  of  his  name.  And  at  no  unfit- 
ing  time  for  us,  as  it  appears.  Yes,  indeed;  storms 
are  raging  more  wildly  than  ever — 

"  Vom  Meer  aufs  Land,  vom  Land  auf  s  Meer." 

Many  a  meteor  shoots  in  its  fiery  hissing  track  from 
east  to  west  and  west  to  east ;  and  as  they  gaze  on  these 


366  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

things,  men's  hearts  are  shaken  with  restless  suspense 
and  dark  forebodings.  The  end  of  lawlessness,  and 
brute  force,  and  disorder,  is  at  hand.  The  end  of  all 
hypocrisy,  of  all  attempts  to  patch  up  corrupt  and  worn- 
out  systems  is  at  hand !  Nothing  but  the  True  can 
save  us ;  nothing  but  that  which  is  of  Law  can  renew  its 
youth,  and  stand  its  ground  against  conscious  lies  and 
might  which  has  been  worshiped  as  right,  whether  it  be 
that  of  peoples  or  of  princes.  Many  have  wished  to  be 
as  gods,  and  the  reward  of  their  crime  is  at  hand.  God's 
judgment  draweth  nigh ;  whether  we  say  with  the  other 
great  poet  of  the  German  Dioscuri — 

"  Die  Weltgeschichte  ist  das  Weltgericht," 

or  whether  our  thoughts  turn  rather  to  the  end  of  the 
world — at  least,  of  all  the  glory  of  Europe — or  whether 
we,  as  is  surely  wisest,  believe  both  in  the  one  and  the 
other. 

Our  reflections  set  out  from  a  little  spot  in  the  pres- 
ent ;  and,  under  the  leading  hand  of  facts,  have  traveled 
to  and  fro  along  the  path  of  centuries.  Our  reflections 
rose  in  solemnity  the  deeper  we  penetrated  below  the 
surface  of  our  present  condition,  and  examined  its  found- 
ations. We  found  nothing  less  than  a  struggle  for  our 
highest  blessings — a  struggle  for  life  and  death,  yet  a 
warfare  to  be  carried  on  by  moral  force  and  intellectual 
weapons.  And  a  warfare  which  admits  of  no  procrasti- 
nation !  But  too  forcibly  does  the  state  of  the  world 
remind  us  of  the  significance  of  this  day  in  the  Christian 
year.  Most  vividly  rises  up  before  our  eyes  the  goal  of 
all  mental  development,  the  touchstone  of  the  vitality  of 
all  those  phenomena  of  the  present  which  have  passed  in 
review  before  us.  Freedom  of  conscience,  the  Ecclesia, 
Personality — these  three  remain  to  us  God's  ministers 


DIYINE  ELEMENT  OP  HUMANITY.  867 

for  our  spiritual  and  social  life  ;  in  opposition  to  oppres- 
sion of  conscience  and  persecution,  to  mental  servitude 
and  brute  force. 

The  way  of  deliverance  lies  in  faith  in  the  eternal  and 
Divine  truth  of  that  which  we  know,  we  need,  and  we 
aspire  after ;  above  all,  in  faith  in  Personality  as  the 
likeness  of  God  in  man,  as  the  all-conquering  and  the 
reproductive  element  in  humanity,  as  the  aim  and  end 
of  croation  and  of  Hfe. 

But  this  faith  in  the  Divine  element  of  humanity  is 
not.  to  manifest  itself  as  a  zeal  which  hates  and  per- 
secutes, but  as  the  love  that  beareth  all  things  and 
believeth  all  things ;  it  is  to  be  fearless,  active,  self- 
sacrificing,  unsullied  by  impatience  or  passion.  We  are 
to  believe  that  the  True  will  conquer,  as  certainly  as  the 
physical  universe  stands  before  us  in  its  orderly  magnif- 
icence; as  certainly  as  the  spiritual  universe  ^unfolds 
itself  to  our  mental  vision  in  the  world's  history.  Evil 
falls  by  its  own  weight,  struck  doT^n  to  the  abyss  by  the 
lightning-flash  of  eternal  love,  piercing  the  ether  of  the 
spiritual  Cosmos. 

Ought  we  to  find  this  hard  to  believe  ?  Does  it  not 
fiow  irresistibly  from  the  facts  of  our  consciousness,  of 
history,  and  of  the  world  around  us  ? 

If  it  be  true  that  free  life  in  the  Ecclesia  is  the 
divinely-given  form  of  the  operation  of  Christianity  in 
man,  and  that  Personality  with  its  free  moral  self- 
determination  is  the  root  from  which  the  life  of  the 
Church  proceeds,  must  not  the  final  aim  of  all  the  tem- 
porary developments  of  the  Christian  Church  be  the 
birth  of  that  personal  Spirit  which  is  truly  and  in  itself 
the  Immortal  Element  ?  He  who  refuses  to  accept  this 
truth  from  Christianity  will  find  himself  forced  to  accept 
it  by  philosophy,  and  vice  versa.     The  birth-throes  are 


368  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

called  by  us  mortals,  life ;  the  real  birth,  death.  Noth- 
ing else  is  an  object  in  itself.  Neither  Congregation  nor 
Church,  Family  nor  State,  art  nor  science,  nay,  not 
even  the  holiest  exercises  of  piety,  are  an  end  in  them- 
selves, but  only  serve  as  means  to  the  great  art  of  life — 
the  birth  of  eternal  life  in  the  human  soul,  the  invisible 
child  of  God.  Self-love,  the  strongest  energy  of  natural 
life,  is  nothing  but  the  perversion  of  the  Divine  impulse 
striving  to  give  birth  to  the  personal,  self-conscious 
spirit.  But  this  consciousness  does  not  rest  essentially 
on  the  dialectic  activity  of  the  understanding,  but  on  the 
moral  energy  which  may  grow  and  come  to  perfection 
without  learning  or  intellectual  apprehension.  True 
science  and  intellectual  apprehension  will  be  developed 
out  of  the  moral  force,  where  such  is  the  soul's  destiny, 
and  it  is  called  to  a  higher  vocation ;  especially  where 
false  science  and  a  semblance  of  knowledge  are  widely 
spread,  and  mental  culture  is  universal.  But  the  true 
knowledge  is  the  knowledge  of  the  Divine  order  of  the 
world,  of  which  Christ  is  to  us  the  center,  humanity  the 
aim ;  and  the  mystery  of  which  slumbers  in  every 
human  soul  that  is  seeking  after  God.  The  key  that 
unlocks  the  significance  of  the  world's  history  is  the 
knowledge  of  the  realization  of  the  Divine  in  the  develop- 
ment of  humanity :  in  that  building  of  that  temple  of 
God  which  is  raised  of  the  living  stones  that  with  con- 
scious personality  freely  join  themselves  together.  And 
in  this  knowledge  alone  can  we  discover  the  key  by  which 
to  interpret  those  hieroglyphics  of  eternity  which  we  call 
the  Signs  of  the  Times. 

In  our  present  rapid  survey  of  the  condition  of  the 
world,  I  have  endeavored  to  characterize  and  interpret 
certain  phenomena  of  the  present.  I  am  conscious  of 
the  imperfect  manner  in  which  I  have  fulfilled  my  task, 


THE  ROOT  OF  CHURCH  LIFE.  369 

but  equally  so  of  the  trnth  of  my  fundamental  view,  and 
the  certainty  of  the  general  result.  It  is  realities,  not 
the  creations  of  our  imagination,  upon  which  we  have 
been  fixing  our  eyes ;  we  have  adduced  decisive  and  in- 
contestable facts,  and  while  endeavoring  to  understand 
their  historical  connection,  we  found  a  startling  unity 
recurring  through  their  manifold  variety. 

In  the  harmony  pervading  the  phenomena  of  the  last 
few  centuries,  and  again  of  our  own  times,  and  in  the 
ease  with  which  the  great  questions  of  the  day  may  be 
solved  from  this  point  of  view,  consists  the  palpable 
proof  of  the  truth  of  the  results  to  which  we  have  been 
led.  The  urgent  questions,  amidst  the  excitement  of 
which  we  are  living,  will  be  brought  to  their  issues,  of 
more  or  lesser  import,  by  individuals  or  nations,  in  the 
lapse  of  years  or  centuries,  according  to  the  great 
destinies  of  humanity ;  but  not  according  to  the  selfish 
will  of  any  human  being,  the  bidding  of  any  arrogant 
potentate,  or  the  purpose  of  any  overbearing  people ;  but 
simply  and  solely  in  accordance  with  the  eternal  law  of 
God's  moral  government,  and  by  virtue  of  the  moral, 
heaven-sprung  energy  whose  resistless  might  brings  all 
things  into  subservience  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  The 
world's  history,  contemplated  from  its  center ^  is  not 
only  the  mother  of  the  future,  but  its  prophetess — its 
true  Pythia. 

Of  the  two  great  signs  of  the  times,  with  the  contem- 
plation of  which  we  began  our  survey,  one  is  in  its 
ascendant,  the  other  verging  toward  its  setting.  The 
Spirit  of  Association,  with  its  liberty,  is  the  genius  and 
the  dsemon  of  the  dawning  day ;  the  Hierarchy  with  its 
tyranny  is  the  waning  planet  of  departing  night.  It  is 
not  Hesperus  but  Phosphor  which  is  shining  in  this 
twilight  of  the  gods.  Nor  have  the  heavens  but  just 
16* 


370  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

begun-  to  glow  with  the  crimson  belts  of  Aurora,  nor  is 
this  the  first  moment  in  which  the  light  has  flashed  from 
east  to  west  across  the  world's  path.  The  same  constel- 
lation ruled  the  skj  when,  seven  years  since,  the  hie- 
rarchy, impelled  by  the  sense  of  its  coming  death,  leagued 
itself  with  the  spirit  of  association  as  it  did  once  with 
secular  absolutism.  It  sought  for  strength  where  it  saw 
the  power  to  lie ;  but  its  selfish  eye  failed  to  perceive 
that  this  was  the  very  power  from  which  it  was  destined 
to  receive  its  death-blow.  The  more  powerful  grows  the 
spirit  of  association,  the  more  self-evident  becomes  the 
antagonism  between  the  hierarchy  and  freedom.  For 
freedom  of  conscience  is  the  sole  vital  air  of  humanity, 
and  the  cradle  of  true  personality ;  and  this  freedom, 
the  mother  of  every  other  freedom,  can  not  endure  the 
hierarchy  forever.  The  God  of  the  Cosmos  has  risen 
up  against  that  hierarchy.  Thus  darkness  and  light  are 
struggling  in  the  light,  force  and  freedom  in  freedom. 

I  am  not  speaking  as  a  Protestant  in  contradistinction 
to  my  Catholic  fellow-citizens,  or  even  to  the  Catholic 
peoples  in  general.  They  and  we  are  journeying,  by 
separate  paths  toward  the  same  goal ;  -but  as  to  what 
this  goal  is,  we  are  philosophically  and  historically  at 
one  with  each  other  throughout  Europe ;  we  with  them 
and  they  with  us.  It  is  legal  religious  liberty  with  its 
consequences.  The  Germanic  and  Romanic  nations  have 
in  apparent  hostility  begun  their  course  from  opposite 
ends  of  the  compass.  With  us  the  movement  has  begun 
on  the  territory  of  religion,  and  has  advanced  from  this 
ground  to  the  region  of  politics ;  they,  however,  made 
their  first  steps  on  the  field  of  politics.  Freedom  of 
conscience  and  religious  peace  is  what  we  all  desire, 
especially  in  Germany.  It  has,  undoubtedly,  been  a 
cause  of  sorrow  to  many  a  heart  among  us,  that  our 


PROTESTANTS  AND  CATHOLICS  AT  ONE,        371 

Catholic  brethren  have  not  been  able  to  join  us  in  cele- 
brating this  week  the  third  Centenary  of  the  Religious 
Peace  of  Augsburg,  for  which  we  solemnly  gave  thanks 
to  God  in  all  our  Christian  assemblies  on  the  past  Sun- 
day. I  feel  sure  that  not  a  single  Protestant  preacher, 
nor  a  single  congregation  will  have  referred  to  that  event 
in  an  arrogant  tone  of  triumph  ;  for  that  peace  accorded 
to  us  but  a  precarious  existence,  which  was  not  changed 
into  a  more  secure  position  until  after  a  civil  warfare  of 
thirty  years  had  been  terminated  by  the  Peace  of  West- 
phalia, in  1648,  and  that  with  many  losses  to  the  Pro- 
testant Church  of  Germany,  That  Peace  secured  to 
Protestantism  only  a  subordinate  rank,  which  was  first 
changed  into  that  of  equal  brotherhood  before  the  whole 
world  in  1815.  So  long  as  that  Peace  continued  to  be 
the  basis  of  our  legal  right  to  exist,  the  recognition  of  us 
hj  the  law  bore  no  proportion  to  our  intrinsic  and  per- 
manent power.  Thus  for  two  hundred  years  its  anniver- 
sary offered  us  nothing  but  a  sorrowful  remembrance  of 
a  past  age  full  of  bloodshed  and  devastation,  and  a  faint 
dawning  of  freedom  of  conscience.  Still  we  dwelt  will- 
ingly and  with  thankfulness  to  God  on  the  memory  of 
this  day  ;  and  why  ?  Because  that  peace  was  the  first 
recognition,  reluctantly  extorted  and  ill-observed  though 
it  was,  of  the  saving  principle  of  liberty  of  conscience 
and  free  personality. 

The  sorrowful  feeling,  therefore,  which  I  hear  ex- 
pressed on  every  hand  is  not  unnatural ;  still,  it  ought 
not  to  make  us  unjust  and  mistrustful  toward  our  Cath- 
olic fellow-citizens.  The  Catholic  luity  is,  in  the  eye  of 
the  Church,  utterly  destitute  of  rights,  and  is  now,  like 
the  parochial  clergy,  more  than  ever  made  the  mere 
passive  instrument  of  the  bishops ;  while  the  latter  again 
are  more  than  ever  prostrate  under  the  unconditional 


372  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

supremacy  of  the  Pope,  who  enforces  the  absolute 
canon  law.  Now,  from  the  beginning,  as  Ranke  has 
proved  by  the  documents  extant,  the  Pope  has  always 
protested  against  the  religious  peace  of  Augsburg,  as  an 
impious  surrender  of  the  Divine  rights  of  the  Church ; 
and  hence  our  Catholic  brethren  find  themselves  in  such 
a  position  that  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  share  our 
patriotic  feeling,  or  to  celebrate  an  event  which  brought 
peace,  and  set  bounds  to  religious  hatred,  with  any  thing 
but  a  sorrowful,  or,  at  most,  silent  remembrance. 

Now,  as  I  have  dedicated  these  letters  to  ''  eternal 
peace,"  I  will,  before  concluding,  touch  upon  that  point 
which  more  than  any  thing  else  threatens  to  disturb  re- 
ligious peace  through  all  time,  not  only  in  Germany, 
but  throughout  the  world :  I  mean  Jesuitism.  Many 
persons,  in  other  respects  at  once  able  thinkers,  candid 
men,  and  trustful  believers  in  God's  providence,  believe 
that  the  peace  of  the  world  can  be  secured  on  no  other 
terms  than  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  by  all  Protestant 
governments  and  peoples,  and  their  exclusion  from  the 
universal  principles  of  toleration.  I  myself  do  not  under- 
estimate the  worldly  power  and  importance  of  this  fear- 
ful Society,  and  have  unreservedly  expressed  my  views 
as  a  politician  concerning  the  point  of  iaw,  and  the  only 
right  mode  of  treating  this  subject.  So  much  the  more 
do  I  consider  it  my  duty  on  the  present  occasion,  setting 
aside  all  theological  matters,  and  passing  over  the  histor- 
ical arguments  that  have  been  a  thousand  times  repeated, 
to  discuss  the  subject  from  the  point  of  view  to  which 
we  have  now  attained. 

We  start  from  the  most  secure  and  unassailable 
position.  If  that  be  true  which  we  have  said  of  person- 
ality when  summing  up  our  results,  its  necessary  conse- 
quences are  also  true.     If  on  every  side  we  are  met  by 


REYIVAL  OF  JESUITISM.  373 

proofs,  derived  equally  from  thought  and  from  historical 
fact,  that  moral  personality  is  the  image  of  God  in  man, 
the  annihilation  of  personality  can  lead  neither  individ- 
uals nor  nations  to  salvation,  but  must  conduct  both  only 
to  perdition.  If  moral  personality  is  an  end  in  itself,  if 
the  training  of  men  to  personal  independence — that  is, 
to  free  self-determination  and  true  freedom — be  the  end 
of  creation,  as  it  is  the  inmost  fruit  of  the  counsels  of 
eternal  love,  and  be  thus  the  final  aim  of  all  human 
education  and  social  life,  a  system  can  not  be  true  which 
destroys  personality.  God  needs  personality  to  accom- 
plish his  work  in  the  soul ;  he  who  kills  that  principle 
destroys,  so  far  as  he  is  able,  the  Divine  element  in  the 
soul.  A  system  of  such  destruction,  of  such  "obedience 
unto  death"  unto  human  beings,  must  work  for  evil, 
whether  it  rest  on  delusion  or  a  conscious  lie. 

The  imperfection  of  the  existing  conditions  of  Chris- 
tendom during  the  rise  and  development  of  this  system, 
explains  how  it  was  possible  that  a  society  founded  upon 
it  should  become  mighty,  and  regain  power  so  rapidly 
after  its  restoration.  But  it  can  not  and  will  not  be 
able  to  maintain  a  protracted  existence  in  the  present 
circumstances  of  the  world,  with  the  gravity  of  the  times, 
and  the  inward  character  which  religion  has  assumed,  or 
is  striving  to  assume.  On  this  subject,  the  passionate 
exasperation  of  implacable  hatred  to  wrong  and  falsehood 
is  at  one  with  the  truly  Christian  sentim^it  of  respect 
for  humanity,  and  the  honest  striving  of  peoples  and 
churches  after  truth  in  our  ecclesiastical  and  civil  polity. 

The  natural  course  of  events  would  therefore  be,  that 
the  overthrow  of  Jesuitism  should  proceed  from  those 
peoples  and  States  which  are  ecclesiastically  connected 
with  Rome.  In  them  the  Order  is  at  home,  and 
exercises  the  power  of  a  native  potentate.     But  in  those 


374  SIGNS  OP  THE  TIMES. 

countries  it  has  been  arraigned  and  condemned ;  and 
Spain,  the  land  of  its  birth,  joined  with  Sardinia  in 
setting  the  example  of  its  expulsion.  As  far  as  we  are 
concerned,  the  re-establishment  of  the  Order  was  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  a  declaration  of  war  against  Protest- 
antism, and  hence  its  re-admission  into  Austria  is  a 
highly  lamentable  and  ominous  event  for  Germany. 
The  breach  of  the  religious  peace  of  1555  was  the  work 
of  the  Jesuits,  and  their  suppression  was  the  advent  of 
freedom  of  conscience  and  tolerance  on  the  part  of  the 
Catholic  Sovereigns,  who  were  still  sanguinary  per- 
secutors a  hundred  years  ago.  This  circumstance, 
painful  as  it  is,  must  not  be  forgotten,  but  must  be 
recalled  to  men's  recollections  when  the  Jesuits  now  try 
to  gain  all  hearts  under  the  mask  of  charity  and  even  of 
enlightenment,  and  have  by  these  means  succeeded  in 
blinding,  or  even  in  winning  over,  many  men  and 
women — ^nay,  princes  and  governments.  But  these  con- 
siderations must  not  induce  us  to  lose  our  faith,  and 
forsake  our  dignified,  reasonable,  and  impregnable  posi- 
tion. All  their  successes  will  not  save  them :  the 
Catholic  peoples  know  them  too  well — the  cloven  foot 
will  soon  peep  out.  Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves.  The 
antagonism  of  Jesuitism  to  the  Gospel,  as  to  all  reality  in 
nature  and  history,  is  neither  accidental  nor  the  effect  of 
any  degeneracy  of  the  Society:  it  is  essential  and  original. 
The  antagonism  does  not  affect  this  point  or  that,  but 
is  absolute,  because  it  proceeds  from  the  fundamentally 
false  view  of  the  world  and  of  man  on  which  the  whole 
Order  was  founded  and  subsists.  On  this  point,  Ranke 
and  Stahl  are  at  one  with  each  other  and  with  Pascal, 
that  the  shallowness  of  the  Jesuitical  ethics  and  the 
proverbial  turpitude  of  their  casuistry  can  not  be  ac- 
counted for  by  this  or  that  object  of  the  Society,  but  by 


LOYOLA'S  GREATNESS  A^D  ERROR.  375 

the  unnaturalness  and  ungodliness  of  its  fundamental 
principle,  whether  regarded  from  a  Christian  or  a  phi- 
losophical point  of  view,  or  from  that  of  plain  common 
sense. 

The  Jesuitical  theory  of  the  universe  is  a  positive 
denial  and  thorough  inversion  of  the  Divine  and  human 
modes  of  action — a  conscious  breach  with  history  and 
Providence.  For  it  is  the  conscious  and  professed  sub- 
ordination of  truth  to  an  end,  and  that  on  the  domain 
of  morals  and  religion :  it  is  the  murder  of  the  principle 
of  personality  bestowed  by  God  and  belonging  to  God. 
Hence  it  is  involved  in  irreconcilable  hostility  with 
freedom,  science,  and  humanity.  This  is  an  irrefrag- 
able argument  against  it,  independent  of  all  historical 
demonstration. 

Loyola  was  well  aware  that  a  will  directed  on  spiritual 
objects  has  power  to  rule  the  world;  but  he  vainly 
deemed  that  he  could  rule  over  God,  and  take  God's 
place  in  His  own  sanctuary.  He  knew  that  all  religious 
knowledge  consists,  not  in  any  outward  learning  and 
scholarship,  but  comes  from  the  inward  part  of  the 
soul.  But  he  desired  to  reign  over  this  inward  part,  in 
order  to  use  it  as  a  means  and  a  tool ;  the  which  is 
eternally  contrary  to  God.  Lastly,  he  knew  also  that 
the  natural  Me,  the  Self,  is  the  true  enemy  of  the  Divine 
life  in  every  man,  and  self-seeking  the  essence  of  sin  and 
the  root  of  evil  and  of  all  the  miseries  of  humanity ;  but 
he  wanted  to  break  the  vessel,  in  order  to  make  it  the 
instrument  of  God  in  the  service  of  the  Superiors  and 
of  the  Pope. 

His  perception  of  these  truths  constituted  his  highest 
and  noblest  ideas.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  his  belief 
in  them  was  sincere ;  but  what  we  can  judge  of  was, 
that  his  whole  view  of  the  real  world  was  unsound, 


376  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

and  can  not  be  brought  into  harmony  with  the  facts  of 
nature,  nor  with  the  essence  of  the  Divine.  Neither  in 
nature  nor  in  history,  neither  in  the  Bible  nor  in  the 
Church,  did  he  seek  Truth  for  its  own  sake,  but  only  as 
a  means  of  governing  by  the  crushing  and  killing  out  of 
personality — that  is,  of  God  in  man.  And  this  charac- 
teristic of  crushing  the  faculties  is  indelibly  impressed 
on  the  Order  by  a  system  which  can  not  indeed  be  called 
an  organization,  but  is  a  most  perfect  mechanism,  and 
which  is  the  naked  prose  of  hierarchism  under  the 
garb  of  enthusiasm,  and  the  lifeless  deposit  of  the 
Middle  Ages  preserved  in  the  acid  of  the  seventeenth 
century. 

That  personality  which  a  man  finds  in  himself  is,  ac- 
cording to  its  natural  root,  a  selfish  principle.  But  there 
is  a  living  consciousness  in  man  thg^t  from  this  bitter 
root,  under  the  tending  care  of  God's  Spirit,  working 
through  conscience  and  reason,  a-  life  of  love  and  right- 
eousness is  destined  to  blossom  out.  And  this  conscious- 
ness the  Gospel  has,  for  all  mankind,  brought  into  clear 
light  through  the  personality  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth ;  and 
this  historically  true,  and  yet  perfectly  unique,  per- 
sonality is  exhibited  to  us  on  the  background  of  the 
historical  development  of  the  consciousness  of  God  in 
humanity,  from  Abraham  and  Moses  onward,  through 
wondrous  manifestations  of  the  Divine  element  in  the 
men  of  God  believing  in  the  one  God  of  creation  and  con- 
science, and  the  nation  founded  upon  this  belief. 

Thus,  from  the  selfish  personality  is  educed  by  moral 
training  (which  can  not  be  otherwise  than  religious)  a 
renewed  personality,  that  ever  aspires  toward  goodness 
and  truth.  From  the  mere  self-determining  power  is 
evolved  a  will  truly  fr6e ;  from  the  constraint  and  ser- 
vitude of  self-love  issues  Divine  freedom ;    the  laboring 


ESSENCE  OP  JESUITISM.  377 

for  self  is  transformed  into  a  willing  recognition  of  just- 
ice. To  cold  isolation  and  arbitrary  power,  strong  only 
to  destroy,  succeeds  the  appointed  realization  of  the 
Divine  in  the  sphere,  not  artificially  created  but  divinely 
ordained,  of  the  household,  of  the  Church,  of  the  State ; 
and,  lastly,  mental  struggle  and  self-contradiction  give 
place  to  godliness  in  the  individual,  and  to  prosperity  in 
the  community. 

Jesuitism  is  not  unacquainted  with  this  order  of 
development,  but  it  lays  its  hand  on  the  wheels  and 
stops  them,  in  order  to  insure  the  accomplishment  of 
the  end  by  destroying  personality  ;  not  knowing,  or  not 
remembering,  that  with  personality  it  destroys  that  very 
end  itself  Were  there  neither  God,  nor  Christ,  nor 
Gospel,  nor  consciousness  of  God  in  man,  Jesuitism 
would  be  indispensable ;  but  they  exist,  and  humanity 
exists. 

Jesuitism  places  in  the  stead  of  free  moral  self-deter- 
mination, unconditional  obedience  to  your  fellow-men, 
the  superiors  of  the  Order.  The  voluntary  surrender 
of  the  selfish  will  to  God  is  turned  into  blind  obedience 
to  a  man  who  has  ceased  to  be  his  own  master.  Man, 
says  the  Bible  and  the  ''  Theologia  Germanica,"  is  to  be 
to  God  as  His  hand  or  His  foot ;  man  shall  become  a 
corpse  or  a  stock,  a  lifeless  tool,  say  the  Constitutions 
of  the  Jesuits  literally : 

"Let  each  man  firmly  believe  that  those  who  live 
under  obedience  ought  to  suffer  themselves  to  be  guided 
and  governed  by  Divine  Providence  working  through 
their  Superiors,  exactly  as  though  they  were  a  corpse, 
which  suffers  itself  to  be  turned  about  in  any  direc- 
tion, and  treated  in  any  manner  you  please  :  or  like 
the  staff  of  an  aged  man,  which  serves  everywhere 
and  in  all  things  him  who  holds  it  in  his  hand."    Vi.  1. 


878  SI<>NS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

Who  will  set  bounds  to  the  Spirit  of  God  ?  Who 
can  deny  that  pious  men  have  lived  in  the  Order  ?  We 
are  speaking  of  the  system,  and  of  its  necessary  work- 
ing as  a  whole ;  we  are  not  now  speaking  of  individuals. 
What  can  result  from  this  annihilation  of  the  Divine 
element — ^this  killing  out  of  God?  Surely  not  that 
moral  self-determination  of  the  individual  which  can 
only  result  from  freedom  and  the  consciousness  of  the 
eternal  and  immediate  relation  of  the  human  spirit  to 
God ;  nor  yet  the  sense  of  moral  responsibility  which  is 
necessarily  developed  therefrom.  Jesuitism  crushes,  it 
does  not  train  the  faculties;  it  enslaves,  it  does  not 
liberate  man  ;  it  is  a  concentrated  faculty  of  self-seeking 
in  the  member  of  the  Society  which  takes  the  place  of 
God.  And,  truly,  its  fruit  among  the  nations  is  not  in- 
dependence and  prosperous  development,  but  a  ruinous 
fluctuation  between  anarchy  and  despotism,  between 
skepticism  and  superstition.  Nor,  finally,  does  it  give 
birth  to  a  true,  solid,  truth-discovering  science,  nor  a 
healthy  and  living  art.  Is  not  the  impress  of  Jesuitism 
unmistakable  in  both  these  spheres  ?  In  that  of  art  it 
is  a  sentimental  distortion  of  the  beautiful,  a  mannerism 
in  painting  and  sculpture,  an  innate  absence  of  taste  and 
love  of  theatrical  ornamentation  in  architecture.  In 
science  it  is  a  rhetorical  shallowness,  where  it  is  not  a 
sophistical  concealment  of  truth — a  garbled  history,  a 
degrading  philosophy,  a  dead  and  unintelligent  philol- 
ogy ;  in  every  department  it  is  prose  relieved  by  fanat- 
icism. 

This  incapacity  to  respect,  and  therefore  to  perceive, 
what  is  healthy  in  nature  and  mind,  is  a  necessary 
effect  of  the  system  ;  and  is  the  Divine  retribution 
for  its  unnaturalness  and  untruthfulness.  Nay,  reason 
and  conscience,  nature  and  history,  and  the  author 


HOW  TO   MEET  JESUITISM.  379 

of  both,  God  himself  would  not  be  true  if  this  were 
not  manifest  as  the  necessary  consequence  of  such  a 
system. 

If  these  things  be  so,  my  honored  friend,  how  can 
we  Protestants,  who  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  Jesuits, 
doubt  that  the  great  and  noble  nations  whom  that  society 
has  first  let  to  superstition  and  despotism,  and  then 
plunged  into  their  inevitable  consequences — unbelief  and 
anarchy — will  extirpate  jfrom  their  midst,  with  holy 
resolve  and  judicious  act,  the  evil  that  has  once  more 
assumed  such  gigantic  proportions,  and  free  the  world 
forever  from  its  curse?  What  nations  wish  for  the 
servitude  which  the  Jesuits  introduce  or  cherish,  and 
not  for  liberty? — for  the  disruption  of  the  common- 
wealth, and  not  for  its  prosperity  ? — ^for  persecution  and 
not  for  freedom  of  conscience  ?  It  would  require  fresh 
centuries  of  bondage,  new  religious  and  civil  wars,  be- 
fore the  nations  could  again  be  made  rotten  enough,  the 
world  wicked  enough,  skepticism  universal  enough,  and 
the  decline  of  true  learning  deep  enough,  for  Europe  to 
become  once  more  a  pupil  of  the  Jesuits.  We  will  not 
do  them  the  favor  to  fall  into  the  snare  which  they  have 
laid  for  us. 

Therefore  we,  for  our  part,  in  the  strength  of  this 
faith,  desire  to  keep  wholly"  within  the  field  of  right  and 
of  liberty.  We  desire  to  take  note  of  all  that  is  done : 
we  will  not  depart  from  our  rights  in  order  to  deprive 
the  Jesuits  of  theirs.  Were  we  to  violate  our  principle 
of  freedom,  we  should  be  recreants  to  our  faith  in  the 
victory  of  truth.  The  only  way  in  which  we  can  help 
our  Catholic  brethren  is  by  faithfully  acting  upon  the 
dictates  of  the  Gospel  committed  to  our  hands,  and  of 
the  freedom  and  knowledge  to  which  it  has  conducted 
us;  and  by  laboring  for  the  kingdom  of  God  among 


380  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

ourselves,  ever  mindful  of  our  own  faults  and  imperfec- 
tions, and  of  the  high  purpose  and  prize  of  liberty. 

But  this  we  will  say  boldly,  and  proclaim  to  all  the 
world  :  Whoever  promotes  oppression  of  conscience 
and  mental  slavery — yea,  whoever  does  not,  with  all 
sincerity  and  energy,  labor  in  faith  for  the  freedom 
of  the  human  conscience  and  intellect,  is  working  for 
Jesuitism,  and,  as  m^uch  as  in  him  lies,  for  the 
downfall  and  destruction  of  his  own  Church  and 
nation.  But  if  he  be  a  Protestant,  he  deserves  a 
double  measure  of  our  abhorrence  or  compassion. 

But  he  who  in  the  sphere  assigned  him,  whether  it  be 
high  or  low,  labors  faithfully  for  right  and  freedom,  is 
laboring  for  the  overthrow  of  the  enemies  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  over  the  whole  earth. 

Assuredly,  my  honored  friend,  a  mighty  struggle  is 
impending  for  us.  It  is  a  sacred  warfare,  and  no  un- 
hallowed hands  may  take  part  in  it  with  impunity.  The 
antagonism  between  liberty  and  oppression  of  conscience 
is  everlasting,  but  the  banner  of  free  moral  personality 
waves  victoriously  over  the  battle-field,  and  on  it  is  in- 
scribed, in  letters  of  fire — 

"  In  hoc  signo  vinces." 

Even  as  the  chorus  of  Greek  tragedy  ends — 

Yes,  the  Right  shall  prevail  in  the  history  of  our  world ; 
for  it  prevailed  in  Christ  for  all  Humanity  eighteen 
centuries  ago  ! 

We  are  all  hastening  to  eternity  while  living  in  it, 
and  our  time  has  its  essence  in  eternity.  Time,  into 
which  the  Kingdom  of  God  has  been  born,  and  is  ad- 
vancing step  by  step  to  its  full  a<jcomplishment. 


THE  RIGHT  SHALL  PREVAIL.  381 

Probably,  my  dear  and  honored  friend,  we  shall  be- 
hold only  in  spirit  the  dawning  of  the  new  day  that  is 
coming  upon  our  earth ;  but  we  shall  behold  the  day 
that  is  about  to  break,  for  it  is  ours.  May  we,  like  the 
divine  prophet  Elias,  perceive  the  presence  of  the  Lord 
in  His  still  small  voice  of  inward  peace,  even  amid  the 
roar  of  storms  and  crashing  of  tempests  I  May  we,  as 
we  depart  from  this  world,  exclaim,  in  the  beautiful  dy- 
ing words  of  the  immortal  seer  of  Gorlitz,  the  pious 
Jacob  Bohme — 

"Hallelujah!  From  sunrise  to  midnight  flames 
the  power  and  might  of  the  Lord ;  who  will  stay  his 
thunderbolts  ? 

"  Hallelujah  !  Into  all  lands  looks  thine  eye  of 
love ;  and  thy  truth  endures  for  everlasting ! 

''  Hallelujah  !  We  are  redeemed  from  the  yoke 
of  the  oppressor !  No  one  shall  build  his  kingdom 
again  forever;  for  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it  by  His 
wondrous  deeds.    Hallelujah  !" 


APPENDIX    TO    LETTER    V. 


A. 

AN  HISTORICAL  AND  JURIDICAL  ACCOUNT  OF  THE 
ECCLESIASTICAL  CONTEST  IN  BADEN,  UP  TO 
JUNE,  1854. 

From  the  "Expose  historique  et  raisonne  du  conflit  entre 
I'Episcopat  et  les  gouvemements  des  territoires  composant  la 
province  ecclesiastique  du  Haut-Rhin  en  Allemagne;  par 
M.  L.  A.  WamJccenig,  Professeur  de  droit  ecclesiastique  k 
V  universite  de  Tubingen,  membre  correspondant  de  1'  Insti- 
tut  de  France,  des  Academies  royales  de  Belgique  et  de 
Munich,  etc.  BruxeUes,  Paris,  Leipzig,  1854."  (Published 
in  July.) 

L 

Demande  des  eveques. 

L'  episcopat  demande  une  reforme  radicale  de  1'  ordre  des 
choses  existant,  et  reclame  la  restitution  complete  de  tons  les 
droits  qu'il  pretend  lui  appartenir,  selon  la  constitution  de 
I'Eglise  catholique,  la  legislation  canonique,  ou  les  conventions 
conclues  avec  le  Pape. 

II  demande  en  particulier : 

1.  Que  la  collation  de  tons  les  benefices  eccl6siastiques,  et  la 
nomination  k  toute  fonction  ou  emploi  dans  le  sein  de  1'  Eglise, 
appartiennent  k  V  6v6que,  hormis  le  cas,  ot  un  autre,  que  ce  soit 
le  souverain,  ou  un  simple  particulier,  ait  acquis  le  droit  de  patron- 
age d'  apr^s  les  lois  canoniques.  H  ne  reconnait  pas  ce  droit  au 
souverain  comme  tel,  et  ne  consid^re  pas  la  secularization  des 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  V.  383 

biens  des  corporations  religieiises,  qui  avaient  autrefois  le  droit  de 
designer  les  cures  dans  lesparoisses  incorporees,  comme  un  litre 
qui  ait  pu  donner  au  souverain  le  droit  de  patronage.  II  veut 
que  ses  nominations  soient  valables  sans  ^tre  agreees  ou  confirmees 
par  le  chef  de  1'  Etat,  et  qu'  il  suffise  qu'  un  cure  soit  nomme  par 
1'  eveque,  pour  qu'  il  soit  reconnu  et  maintenu  dans  toutes  les 
prerogatives  inh^rentes  a  sa  charge  et  a  sa  dignity. 

2.  En  consequence  de  ce  principe,  que  1'  ^v^que  pent  seul 
conferer  les  benefices  et  dignites  ecclesiastiques,  et  conformement 
aux  dispositions  du  concile  de  Trente,  1'  episcopat  veut,  que  non 
seulement  le  souverain  ne  jouisse  pas  du  droit  de  faire  1'  examen 
des  candidats  a  recevoir  aux  seminaires,  ou  celui  du  concours  dit 
paroissi^,  mais  encore  qu'  il  soit  exclu  de  toute  participation  aux 
examens,  qu'  il  ne  puisse  s'  y  faire  representor  par  des  delegues, 
et  qu'  il  n'  ait  surtout  pas  la  faculte,  que  les  gouvemements  ont 
encore  reclamee  en  mars  1853,  d'  emettre  un  vote  sur  la  capacite 
des  candidats  examines. 

3.  Les  6veques  reclament,  pom-  les  m^mes  raisons,  la  direction 
immediate  des  ecoles  et  pensionnats  ecclesiastiques,  et  1'  etablisse- 
ment  de  seminaires  d'  apr^s  les  preceptes  du  concile  de  Trente ; 
ils  veulent  que  les  professeurs  en  theologie  aux  universites  ne 
puissent  ^tre  nommes  que  sur  leur  avis,  et  qu'  ils  soient,  ainsi  que 
leur  enseignement,  soumis  a  leur  surveillance  immediate.  lis 
veulent  en  outre  pouvoir  seuls  conferer  le  titre  clerical  ou  de  sus- 
tentation,  et  disposer  a  cet  efiet  des  fonds  qui  y  sont  afiectes,  ou 
meme  conferer  les  ordres,  sans  qu'  il  y  ait  besoin  d'  une  pareille 
sustentation. 

4.  Ce  que  1'  episcopat  reclame  encore,  c'  est  1'  abohtion  complete 
et  enti^re  du  droit  de  placet^  et  du  recours  comme  d'  abus,  ou  de 
r  appel  centre  ses  decisions  aux  autorites  civiles,  sauf  le  cas  oil  il 
y  aurait  usurpation  de  fonctions  civiles  de  la  part  du  clerge.  H 
reclame  en  outre  le  Hbre  exercice  de  la  juridiction  eccl6siastique, 
tant  civile  que  penale,  secundum  canones  adhuc  mgentes  et  praesen- 
tem  ecclesice  disdpUnam,  et  il  exige  du  gouvernement  1'  execution 
paree  de  ses  jugements,  par  consequent  aussi  le  droit  de  deposer, 
suspendre,  et  deplacer  les  pretres  sur  jugement,  sans  que  1'  autorite 
civile  ait  &.  s'  assurer  de  la  regularity  de  la  procedure. 

6.  Les  ev^ques  reclament  ensuite  une  pleine  et  enti^re  hbert6 
du  culte,  m^me  k  V  egard  des  actes  non  reputes  necessaires  au 
salut,  et  par  consequent  le  droit  d'  ordonner  des  missions,  des 


384  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  V. 

processions,  des  p61ermages  solennels,  d'  ^tablir  des  confreries, 
des  congregations  et  des  convents  et  ordres  monastiques  sans 
autorisation  prealable  du.  gouvemement. 

6.  Us  pretendent  non  seulement  k  la  direction  exclusive  de 
r  instruction  religieuse  dans  les  ecoles  primaires,  colleges,  ou 
lyc^es,  ainsi  qu'  au  droit  d'  y  nommer  les  professeurs,  mais  encore 
Si  celui  de  surveiller  et  meme  de  diriger  1'  enseignement  profane, 
de  faire  renvoyer  les  professeurs,  quand  ils  ne  jouissent  plus  de 
leur  confiance ;  ils  demandent  enJfin  1'  abolition  des  ecoles  mixtes, 
c'  est-a-dire  de  celles  qui  sont  destinees  a  1'  instruction  simultanee 
d'  enfants  de  differentes  confessions,  afin  que  ceux  de  la  religion 
catholique  soient  exclusivement  instruits  dans  des  Ecoles 
catholiques. 

7.  L'  6piscopat  veut  de  plus  avoir  plein  pouvoir  de  prononcer 
r  excommunication  tant  majeure  que  mineure  centre  tout  pr^tre 
et  laique  qui  a  encouru  cette  peine. 

8.  II  reclame  enfin  1'  exclusive  et  la  libre  administration  de 
tous  les  biens  ecclesiastiques,  sans  le  controle  exerce  jusqu'  a  cette 
heure  par  I'Etat,  par  consequent  1' abolition  des  reglements 
d'  administration  etablis  par  le  gouvemement  C  est  surtout  du 
fonds  ecclesiastique  general  que  les  ^veques  veulent  pouvoir 
disposer  sans  autorisation  quelconque  du  pouvoir  civil,  et  confor- 
mement  S.  ce  qui  est  prescrit  par  le  droit  canon. 

Dans  leurs  memoires  il  n'  est  pas  question  des  manages  mixtes; 
I'episcopat  ayant  depuis  nombre  d'annees  mis  les  ordonnances 
du  saint-siege  ^  cet  6gard  en  vigueur,  et  considerant  la  legislation 
civile  en  tous  les  points  ou  eUe  leur  est  contraire  comme  nuUe,  il 
n'  a  pas  juge  necessaire  d'  en  demander  1'  abrogation. 

Si  r  on  compare  le  syst^me  gouvernemental  expose  ci-dessus 
avec  les  exigences  de  1'  6piscopat,  on  doit  se  convaincrement 
ais^ment  qu'  ils  reposent  sur  des  mani^res  de  voir  si  diflferentes, 
qu'  il  existe  entre  eux  une  antinomic  absolue.  D'  apr^s  les 
principes  du  gouvemement,  1'  Eglise  ne  pent  r^clamer  de  1'  Etat 
d'  autres  droits  que  ceux  qu'  il  veut  bien  lui  accorder ;  la  plupart 
de  ces  droits  ne  lui  semblent  qu'  une  simple  concession  de  sapart, 
et  il  croit  pouvoir  lui  en  refuser  des  plus  importants,  tel  que  celui 
de  conferer  les  benefices  ecclesiastiques,  d'  examiner  les  candidats 
en  theologie  et  les  aspirants  aux  places  de  cur6,  et  d'  administrer 
le  fonds  central  ecclesiastique ;  tandis  que  les  6v^ques  de  leur 
c6te  revendiquent  tous  ces  droits  comme  leur  appartenant  exclu- 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  V.  385 

sivement,  ou  tout  au  moins  comme  des  prerogatives,  que  1'  Etat 
ne  peut  faire  dependre  de  conditions  dictees  par  lui-meme,  et 
dont  il  ne  peut  circonscire  1'  exercice  dans  eertaines  limites ;  ils 
declarent  meme  la  plupart  de  ces  droits  tellement  inherents  a  la 
dignite  et  aux  fonctions  episcopales,  qu'ils  ne  se  croient  pas 
autorises  a  y  renoncer  ou  a  permettre  que  le  pouvoir  civile  s'  en 
m^le.  Bref,  c'  est  le  syst^me  ultramontain  le  plus  absolu  et  le 
plus  franchement  prononce,  que  1'  episcopat  du  Haut-Rhin  veut 
voir  mettre  en  pratique,  peu  lui  importe  que  1'  Etat  le  reconnaisse 
ou  non.  C  est  pour  cela  que  1'  archeveque  de  Fribourg  a  cm 
pouvoir  se  mettre  de  sa  propre  autorite  et  par  voie  de  fait  en 
possession  d'  une  partie  de  ces  droits,  tandis  que  les  gouveme- 
ments  craignent  d'  abdiquer  une  partie  de  leur  souverainete  en 
laissant  s'  introduire  un  tel  ordre  de  choses. 

Les  gouvernements  avaient  modifie,  en  partie  dans  ime  ordon- 
nance  rec^gee  en  commun,  en  partie  dans  une  declaration  minis- 
terielle  du  2  au  5  mars  1853,  I'ordonnance  du  30  Janvier  1830. 
Mais  cela  ne  suffisait  pas  pour  repondre  a  toutes  les  demandes  de 
r  episcopat;  un  grand  nombre  de  ces  demandes  avaient  ete 
rejetees,  et  les  principes  de  1'  ancienne  ordonnance  maintenus ; 
aussi  les  eveques  declar^rent-ils  ne  pas  etre  satisfaits  par  les  con- 
cessions qu'  ils  venaient  d'  obtenir.  Nous  aliens  enumerer  les 
plus  essentiels  des  changements  qui  avaient  ete  decretes : 

a.  Les  bulles  ou  bref's  du  Pape,  les  ordonnances  generales  des 
eveques  et  d'  autres  autorites  ecclesiastiques,  ainsi  que  les  decrets 
des  synodes,  n'  ont  besoin  du  placet,  pour  etre  publies  et  execu- 
tes, que  lorsqu'  ils  imposent  des  obligations  qui  ne  sont  pas  du 
ressort  de  1'  Eglise,  ou  qui  se  rapportent  aux  aJBfaires  publiques  ou 
civiles.  Quant  aux  autres,  qui  ont  un  caract^re  purement  spiri- 
tuel,  il  suffit  qu'  ils  soient  portes  a  la  connaissance  du  gouverne- 
ment.  « 

6.  II  est  libre  a  tout  le  monde  de  communiquer  avec  Rome, 
sans  toutefois  qu'  il  soit  porte  prejudice  a  1'  ordre  hierarchique 
des  autorites  ecclesiastiques. 

c.  Les  etudes  theologiques  doivent  se  faire  a  une  faculte  de 
theologie  faisant  partie  des  universites  gouvemementales. 

d.  Les  candidats  en  theologie  ne  sont  admis  a  recevoir  les 
ordres  sacr^s,  ou  a  jouir  du  titre  clerical,  qu'  apr^s  avoir  subi 
avec  succ^s  1'  examen  d'  une  commission  episcopale,  assist^e 
d'  un  commissaire  du  gouvemement ;  ce  dernier  est  muni  d'  un 


386  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  V. 

droit  de  veto  suspensif,  et  doit  en  referer  au  conseU  des  cultes, 
qui  decide  alors  en  derni^re  instance  sur  1'  admission  du  candidat 
ajourne. 

e.  On  accorde  aux  eveques  et  a  1'  archeveque  de  Fribourg  le 
droit  de  nommer  librement  aux  places  de  cure  qui  deviennent 
vacantes  aux  mois  de  juillet  et  de  decembre. 

/.  L'  ev^que  a  le  droit  de  surveiller  immediatement  les  etab- 
lissements  d'  instruction  publique  des  pretres  futurs ;  les  profes- 
seurs  et  les  chefs  ou  regents  des  pensionnats  qui  j  sont  annexes 
ne  peuvent  6tre  nommes  sans  son  consentement. 

g.  L'  eveque  nomme  les  doyens  ruraux ;  mais  Us  ne  peuvent 
entrer  en  fonction  qu'  apr^s  avoir  ete  confirmes  par  le  gouveme- 
ment. 

h.  Les  gouvemements  reconnaissent  aux  ev^ques  le  droit  de 
prononcer,  centre  les  pretres  en  faute,  les  peines  usitees ;  si  ce- 
pendant  leurs  sentences  doivent  produire  des  efifets  civils,  tels  que 
la  perte  du  benefice,  etc.,  il  faut  qu'  elles  aient  6t6  rendues  par 
un  tribunal  bien  organise,  et  assiste  d'  un  jurisconsulte  la'ique ;  il 
faut  que  la  condamnation  se  fasse  par  suite  d'  une  procedure  con- 
forme  aux  lois,  et  que  le  condamne  ait  pu  en  appeler  ^  1'  autorite 
civile;  s'  il  n'use  pas  de  ce  droit,  ou  si  1' autorite  civile  declare 
qu'  il  n'  y  ait  pas  lieu  a  cassation,  les  condamnations  seront  mises 
a  r  execution  a  1'  aide  du  bras  seculier. 

i.  Les  gouvemements  reconnaissent  aux  eveques  le  droit  d'  ex- 
communier ;  mais  1'  excommunication  ne  peut  avoir  nul  eflfet 
civil ;  elle  donne  lieu  a  un  recours  comme  d'  abus,  lorsqu'  eUe  est 
prononcee  pour  des  faits  etrangers  a  la  religion. 

Les  reformes  refusees  par  les  gouvemements  concement  entr© 
autres  1'  erection  des  petits  seminaires  prescrite  par  le  concile  de 
Trente,  mais  qui  n'  existent  pas  en  Allemagne,  et  sont  rendus 
supefflus  par  les  ecoles  secondaires  et  les  pensionnats  existants ; 
ensuite  les  missions,  pelerinages  solennels,  ainsi  que  1'  erection  de 
couvents  sans  autorisation  prealable  de  I'Etat;  la  surveillance 
et  le  controle  de  1'  enseignement  profane  par  1'  eveque,  ou  celle 
des  professeurs  en  theologie  nommes  par  le  gouvemement  aux 
universites  de  1'  Etat.  Enfin  la  legislation  existante  a  1'  egard  des 
biens  ecclesiastiques  et  des  fondations  est  maintenue,  et  les  gou- 
vemements declarent  vouloir  continuer  k  faire  administrer  le 
fonds  central  ecclesiastique  cree  par  eux,  quoique  aliment^  par  les 
revenus  des  benefices  vacants ;  il  doit  suffire  aux  6v^ques  d'  avoir 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  V.  387 

le  droit  de  consentir  ^  Temploi  de  ce  fonds,  etc.  lis  terminent 
en  promettant  aux  eveques  que  toutes  les  fois  qu'  ils  reclameront 
quelque  amelioration  du  bien-etre  general  de  1'  Eglise,  ils  s'  em- 
presseront  de  satisfaire  a  leurs  desirs,  pourvu  qu'  ils  soient  com- 
patibles avec  r  ordre  social  modeme  et  les  lois  de  1'  Etat. 


n. 


Actes  d! opposition  insurrectioneUe  de  7  episcopal  conire  les  govr- 
vernements,  etproctdes  de  ces  derniers. 

Les  eveques  ne  tarderent  pas  de  donner  suite  a  leurs  menaces, 
de  se  mettre  en  possession  des  droits  que  les  gouvemements  ne 
cessaient  de  leur  contester.  lis  choisirent  deux  voies  pour  par- 
venir  k  ce  but.  lis  refiis^rent  d'  abord  leur  participation  aux 
actes  d'  administration  ecclesiastique  qui  selon  les  ordonnances  en 
vigueur  devaient  se  faire  de  commun  accord,  ou  ils  ne  donn^rent 
pas  suite  aux  ordres  du  gouvemement,  qu'  ils  envisageaient 
comme  contraires  a  leurs  droits.  Cette  esp^ce  de  resistance 
passive  avait  deja  commence  a  partir  du  mouvement  revolution- 
naire  de  mars  1848,  L'  eveque  de  Kottenbourg  avait  alors  refuse 
de  prendre  part  a  la  nomination  des  doyens  ruraux,  et  d'  envoyer 
un  commissaire  aux  examens  a  subir  a  Stuttgardt  par  les  pr^tres 
aspirants  aux  places  de  cure.  Bientot  apr^s  1'  episcopat  tout 
entier  alia  plus  loin ;  il  refusa  1'  institution  canonique  aux  cures 
nommes  par  le  chef  de  1'  Etat,  comme  tel,  et  ne  reconnut  plus 
commes  obligatoires  les  ordres  du  conseil  des  cultes,  qui  lui  sem- 
blaient  empieter  sur  les  prerogatives  ou  la  juridiction  Episcopate. 

Enfin  r  archeveque  de  Fribourg  et  plus  tard  V  eveque  de 
Limbourg  passerent  de  la  desobeissance  passive  k  des  actes  de 
resistance  active.* 

lis  nomm^rent,  en  vertu  de  leur  pouvoir  pontifical,  des  cures 
aux  paroisses  vacantes.  L'  archeveque  se  donna  un  fonde  de 
pouvoir  avec  le  droit  de  le  representer  au  sien  du  cbapitre,  sans 
meme  en  faire  part  au  gouvemement ;  il  ne  recherche  plus  d'  au- 
torisation  pour  publier  ses  decrets,  ou  pour  executor  des  actes  de 


•  Vn  6crit  apologetique  de  V  archeveque,  public  a  Mayence,  presente  tons  ces 
actes  comme  n'  impliquant  qu'  une  resistance  passive.    Ceci  est  par  trop  naif. 


888  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  V. 

juridiction  quelconque.  II  fit  faire  les  examens  de  reception  au 
seminaire  en  son  nom,  et  refusa  d'  y  admettre  un  commissaire 
civil ;  en  un  mot  il  se  mit  au-dessua  des  ordonnances  legalement 
sanctionnees  du  gouvernement,  que  lui  et  ses  predecesseurs 
avaient  pourtant  respectees  et  executees  jusqu'  alors.  Enfin  il 
"  entra  en  correspondance,  le  5  aout  1853,  avec  les  membres  tant 
laiques  qu'  ecclesiastiques  du  conseil  du  culte  catholique  a  Carls- 
ruhe,  pour  les  engager  a  se  demettre  de  leurs  places,  comme  les 
obligeant  a  des  fonctions  incompatibles  avec  les  devoirs  d'  un 
Chretien  catholique.  Aucun  d'  eux  n'  ayant  defere  ^  sa  demande, 
il  lanca  contre  eux  une  sentence  d'  excommunication,  qu'  il  leur 
fit  signifier  a  chacun  personellement,  le  20  octobre  1853.  C  est 
ainsi  que  la  rupture  avec  le  gouvernement  fut  consommee,  et  la 
guerre  declaree. 

Le  gouvernement  de  Bade  se  vit  contraint  d'  user  de  repre- 
sailles,  pour  maintenir  1'  ordre  legal  en  vigueur,  et  pour  faire 
respecter  sa  propre  autorite.  II  choisit  d'  abord  a  cet  eflfet  le 
moyen  le  moins  dur ;  au  lieu  de  faire  instruire  un  proems  criminel 
contre  1'  archeveque  ou  de  le  faire  arr^ter,  il  le  mit  en  tutelle  ;  une 
ordonnance  du  7  novembre,  1853,  defendit  de  publier  ou  d'  exe- 
cuter  tout  acte  emane  de  lui,  sans  le  visa  d'  un  commissaire 
special,  nomme  par  le  prince  regent  en  la  personne  du  premier 
magistrat  du  baillage  de  Fribourg ;  1'  archeveque  1'  excommunia 
tout  aussitot,  ce  qui  du  reste  ne  1'  emp^cha  d'  exercer  ses 
p§nibles  fonctions.  L'  archeveque  fit  publier  solennellement 
toutes  ses  excommunications,  et  chargea  les  cures  de  Fribourg  et 
de  Carlsruhe  d'  en  lire  les  d^crets  au  prone,  ce  qu'  ils  firent  faire 
par  leurs  vicaires.  II  est  cependant  a  remarquer  que  le  chapitre 
archiepiscopal  declara  solennellement  partager  en  tons  points  la 
mani^re  de  voir  de  son  chef 

Le  gouvernement  repondit  h.  ces  nouveUes  demonstrations  en 
pronon§ant  contre  leurs  agents  des  peines  d'  amende  et  d'  em- 
prisonnement.*  Le  grand  vicaire  de  1'  archeveque  fut  succes- 
sivement  condamne  k  plusieurs  milliers  de  francs  d'  amende. 
Tous  ceux  qui  avaient  execute  les  ordres  de  1'  archeveque  non 
contre-sign6s  du  commissaire  special,  furent  menaces  de  ces 
peines ;  les  doyens  et  cures  fiddles  k  V  ordre  legal,  au  contraire, 
furent  assures  de  la  protection  du  gouvernement     L'  archeveque 

*  Tous  les  magistrats  k  V  exception  d'  uu  fort  petit  nombre,  s'  empress&rent  de 
poarBuivre  les  eccl6slaHtiques  d6faut ;  ceux  qui  s'  y  refusfircnt  furent  destitn^s. 


APPENDIX   TO  LETTER  V.  389 

essaya  de  justifier  sa  conduite  dans  plusieurs  proclamations,  soit 
secr^tement  impriraees,  soit  publiees  a  1'  etranger.  A  la  fin  il 
ordonna  (toujours  sans  1'  autorisation  dn  commissaire  special)  k' 
tons  les  cures  d'  exposer,  dans  quatre  sermons,  sa  position  envers 
r  Etat,  la  violation  des  droits  de  la  sainte  Eglise,  et  le  but  de  son 
procede  extraordinaire. 

Le  clerge  se  trouva  dans  un  fort  grand  embarras ;  la  majeure 
partie  executa  bon  gre  mal  gr^,  les  ordres  de  1'  archeveque ;  les 
recalcitrants  furent  suspendus  ou  demis  de  leurs  fonctions,  et  quel- 
ques-uns  furent  meme  frappes  de  1'  excommunication.  Dans  un 
grand  nombre  d'  endroits  les  conseils  communaux  sollicit^rent 
r  archeveque  de  retirer  1'  ordre  des  quatres  sermons,  ou  meme  ils 
s'  abstinrent  d'  y  assister,  et  quelques  fois  meme  toute  la  paroisse 
avec  eux.  L'  archeveque  fut  inexorable,  et  declara  constamment 
qu'  il  persisterait  dans  la  ligne  de  conduite  qu'  il  s'  etait  trace 
jusqu'  a  ce  que  justice  lui  fut  rendue.  D'  un  autre  cote  des  pre- 
dicateurs  trop  ardents  furent  traduits  devant  les  tribunaux. 

Le  spectacle  de  cette  lutte  a  outrance,  sans  pareille  en  Alle- 
magne,  produisit  encore  1'  etonnement  le  plus  general,  et  les 
feuilles  clericales  de  tons  les  pays  s'  en  occuperent  sans  cesse. 
On  y  presenta  la  religion  et  1'  Eglise  catholique  comme  cruelle- 
ment  persecutees ;  on  y  attaqua  le  gouvernement  badois  avec  un 
tel  acharnement,  que  pluiseurs  redacteurs  de  journaux  etrangers 
furent  cites  devant  les  tribunaux  et  condamnes  par  contumace. 
En  revanche,  on  taeha  de  gagner,  par  des  insinuations  douces  et 
flatteuses,  le  prince  regent  de  Bade  et  les  autres  souveraius  in- 
teresses  a  cette  grande  affaire ;  on  les  engagea  a  abandonner  le 
systeme  suivi  jusqu'  a  ce  jour,  a  embrasser,  en  se  separant  des 
conseillers  de  la  couronne,  la  cause  sacree  de  1'  Eglise,  qu'  on 
chercha  a  leur  presenter  comme  leur  propre  cause ;  on  leur  fit 
voir  dans  1'  alliance  de  1'  autel  et  du  trone  la  plus  forte  garantie 
de  la  stabilite,  et  le  gage  du  triomphe  le  plus  certain  sur  la  demo- 
cratie,  qui  1'  on  depeignit  comme  1'  ennemi  commun. 

Des'  souscriptions  furent  ouvertes  en  Bavi^re,  dans  les  pro- 
vinces rhenanes  et  dans  d'  autres  parties  de  1'  Allemagne  catho- 
lique, de  meme  qu'  en  France  et  ailleurs  en  pays  etrangers,  pour 
indemniser  les  pretres  martyrs  de  1'  Eglise. 

Une  quantite  d'  addresses  de  condoleance  et  de  felicitation  des 
^v^ques  et  du  clerge  catholique  de  presque  tons  les  pays,  ainsi 
qu'  un  bref  du   Pape,  arriv^rent  a  Fribourg  pour  soutenir  le 


890  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  V. 

courage  du  pr61at  qu'  on  pretend  6tre  persecute.  On  feignit 
m^me  de  voir,  dans  cette  affaire,  une  guerre  du  protestantisme 
contre  1'  Eglise  catholique ;  quoique  les  protestants,  sauf  un  fort 
petit  nombre,  soient  restes  spectateurs  muets  de  cette  lutte  qui,  a 
leurs  yeux,  ne  sert  pas  a  glorifier  1'  Eglise.  H  est  van  que  parmi 
les  journaux  qui  prennent  le  parti  des  gouvernements,  il  en  est 
plusieurs  dont  les  redacteurs  sont  protestants ;  mais  la  grande 
majorite  des  catholiques,  appartenant  k  la  classe  elevee,  est  du 
meme  parti.  Quant  a  la  masse  de  la  population  catholique,  elle 
reste  indifferente  a  ce  conflit ;  elle  est  assez  eclairee  pour  voir  que  la 
religion  catholique  n'  a  rien  souffert  et  n'  a  rien  a  souffrir,  attendu 
qiie  V  ordre  dechoses  qtie  T  episcopal  fait  passer  aujourd'  huipour 
une  tyrannie  a  suhsiste  paisiblemeni  depwis  un  demi-siecle,  sans 
qu'on  s'en  soit  jamais  plaint  ouvertement. 

Presque  tout  le  monde  ne  voit  dans  le  conflit  qu'  une  affaire 
personelle  des  ev^ques,  qui  aspirent  a  6tendre  leur  pouvoir.  II 
J  a  m^me  un  grand  nombre  de  personnes  qui  craignent  qu'  une 
victoire  de  I'episcopat  ne  soit  nuisible  a  la  liberte  des  consciences. 

Le  gouvernement  badois  entaina  d'  abord  des  negociations  avec 
le  nonce  du  Pape  a  Vienne,  pour  faire  cesser  le  conflit  a  1'  aide 
d'  un  arrangement  avec  le  Pape.  II  est  a  remarquer  qu'  a  1'  ex- 
ception de  r  ^veque  de  Limbourg,  pour  le  duch6  de  Nassau  et  la 
viUe  de  Francfbrt,  les  chefs  des  autres  dioceses  n'  ont  pas  suivi 
I'  example  de  leur  metropolitain ;  celui  de  la  Hesse  electorale  s'  est 
en  quelque  sorte  retire  de  la  coalition,  se  Uvrant  a  1'  espoir  de  ter- 
miner les  difficultes  par  son  influence  sur  M.  Hassenpflug,  premier 
ministre  de  ce  pays.  L'  ev^que  de  Rottenbourg  s'  est  adresse  au 
roi  de  Wurtemberg  en  personne.  On  arrete  d'  abord  une  esp^ce 
d'  armistice,  et  1'  on  conclut,  au  mois  de  Janvier  passe,  un  com- 
promis,  qui  fut  redig6  en  projet  de  convention,  et  que  I'  ev(5que 
transmit  au  Pape.  Rien  de  positif  n'  a  transpire  sur  les  clauses 
de  cet  arrangement,  ni  sur  les  negociations  de  1'  ambassadeur 
badois  a  Vienne.  Les  chefs  les  plus  ardents  du  parti  clerical  ont 
manifeste  cependant  un  certain  mecontentement  d'  une  issue  paci- 
fique  de  la  granda  lutte. 

C  est  au  miheu  de  cette  agitation  toujours  croissante  et  ali- 
mentee  par  des  Merits  fugitifs,  des  pamphlets  anonymes,  et  des 
feuilles  volantes  pleines  d'  invectiveSj  qu'  eut  Heu  1'  ouverture  des 
chambres  du  grande-duche  de  Bade.  L'  attention  publique  6tait 
g^ncralement  dirig^e  sur  le  passage  du  discours  du  trdne  ou  il 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  Y.  391 

devait  etre  fait  mention  du  conflit  ecclesiastique.  Le  prince-re- 
gent le  fit  avec  autant  de  dignite  que  de  tact  et  de  reserve.  H  y 
exprimait  ses  sinc^res  regrets  de  ce  que  le  vceu  de  1'  archeveque, 
de  voir  son  pouvoir  plus  etendu  qu'  il  ne  1'  6tait  conformement 
aux  lois  et  aux  ordonnances  en  vigueur,  avait  fait  naitre  una 
espece  de  scission  entre  1'  episcopat  et  le  gouvernement,  malgre 
r  attachement  que  lui,  feu  son  p6re  et  son  aieul,  avaient  toujours 
temoigne  a  leurs  sujets  cathbliques,  et  malgre  leur  respect  pour 
cette  religion  et  leur  zele  pour  leur  Eglise ;  que  c'  etait  contre 
son  gre  qu'  il  avait  du  prendre  des  mesures  severes  pour  1'  hon- 
neur  de  1'  Etat  et  1'  autorite  des  lois,  mais  qu'  il  esperait  que  tout 
serait  termine  par  un  arrangement,  etc. 

Dans  leurs  reponses  ou  adresses  du  22  Janvier,  1854,  le  deux 
chambres  exprim^rent  au  prince-regent  leur  sympathie  la  plus 
franche  relativement  a  cette  affaire.  La  seconde  chambre  sur- 
tout,  composee  en  majeure  partie  de  catholiques,  s'  exprimea,  en 
cette  occasion,  d'  une  marn^re  remarquable ;  elle  dit :  "  Nous 
regrettons  d'  autant  plus  profondement  les  complications  facheuses 
qu'  a  fait  naitre  le  procede  extraordinaire  de  siege  archiepiscopal, 
si  oppose  a  la  base  fondamentale  de  notre  organisation  gouverne- 
mentale,  que  les  mesures  qu'  a  du  prendre  Votre  Altesse  Royale 
pour  garantir  contre  toute  atteinte  les  prerogatives  de  la  couronne, 
ont  provoque,  de  la  part  de  1'  autorite  ecclesiastique,  des  actes 
ulterieurs  qui  auraient  facilement  pu  troubler  le  repos  public  et 
occasionner  de  graves  desordres,  si  vos  fideles  sujets  avaient  ete 
moins  attaches  a  leurs  devoirs  qu'  ils  ne  le  sont.  Quelles  que 
soient  les  erreurs  repandues  k  V  etranger  sur  ces  afiFaires,  que  1'  on 
connait  si  peu  sous  leur  vrai  jour,  votre  peuple  a  prouve,  par  sa 
tenue  et  par  la  firme  confiance  qu'  il  a  en  Votre  Altesse,  qu'  il 
est  persuade  que  la  sainte  cause  de  sa  religion  n'  est  exposee  k 
nul  danger.  Le  souvenir  des  bienfaits  dont  1'  Eglise  catholique  a 
ete  comblee  depuis  les  temps  de  votre  illustre  aieul  Charles-Fred- 
eric jusqu'  a  nos  jours,  et  1'  assurance  de  Votre  Altesse  que  la  foi 
catholique  n'  est  pas  moins  ch^re  a  votre  coeur  que  votre  propre 
croyance,  le  fortifient-  encore  en  cette  conviction.  Nous,  les  rep- 
resentants  de  la  nation  de  toutes  les  parties  du  Grrand-Duch6, 
nous  croyons  qu'  il  est  de  notre  devoir  d'  en  donner  1'  assurance 
au  pied  du  trone,  et  de  rendre  ce  temoignage  public,  que  1'  amour 
de  vos  sujets  et  leur  conviction  intime  que  vous  rendez  a  tous  la 
mdme  et  impartiale  justice,  et  que  vous  avez  pour  tous  une 


392  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  V. 

meme  et  egale  bienveillance,  n'  a  nuUe  part  dans  tout  le  pays 
subi  la  moindre  alteration  par  suite  de  ces  differends.  Vos  fiddles 
deputes  esp^rent  avec  confiance  qu'  on  arrivera  a  un  arrangement 
avec  r  autorite  ecclesiastique,  qui  ne  porte  aucune  atteinte  a  la 
dignite  et  aux  droits  de  la  couronne." 

Conformement  a  la  declaration  faite  aux  chambres,  le  prince- 
regent  resolut  r  envoi  d'  un  negociateur  aupr^s  de  sa  Saintete  a 
r  effet  de  terminer  ce  grand  conflit  a  1'  amicable. 

H  fit  cboix  du  comte  de  Leiningen,  connu  par  son  devouement 
k  V  Eglise^  et  lui  adjoignit  un  jeune  secretaire  qui  avait  assiste 
aux  conferences  des  envoyes  des  gouvernements  reunis,  tenues, 
comme  nous  1'  avons  dit  plus  haut,  a  Carlsruhe.  Pour  lui  preparer 
im  bon  accueil  k  Rome,  le  prince  revoqua  1'  ordonnance  du  7 
novembre,  1853. 

Le  gouvernement  badois  esperait  avec  raison  que  1'  archiepis- 
copat  respecterait  le  siatiis  quo  jusqu'  a  la  decision  du  Pape ;  mais  il 
en  fut  autrement.  Les  mesures  d'  agression  reprirent  leur  cours ; 
r  archeveque  ne  se  contenta  pas  seulement  de  nommer  les  cures 
de  sa  propre  autorite,  mais  il  defendit  encore  aux  ecclesiastiques 
les  examens  en  matiere  de  religion,  aussi  longtemps  qu'  ils  au- 
raient  lieu  en  presence  des  commissaires  gouvernementaux,  et 
d^creta  1'  etablissement  d'  un  pensionnat  pour  les  theologiens  Jl 
Pribourg,  dans  un  batiment  appartenant  k  1'  Etat ;  de  plus  il  fit 
fermer  les  eglises,  dont  les  cures  nonmaes  par  lui  n'  avaient  pas 
6te  reconnus  par  le  gouvernement. 

Get  acte  hostile  n'  empecha  pas  ce  dernier  d'  user  de  modera- 
tion ;  ne  voulant  pas  priver  les  communes  catholiques  de  1'  exer- 
cice  de  leur  culte,  il  permit  aux  cures  nommes  par  1'  archeveque 
d'  exercer  leurs  fonctions  en  qualite  de  vicaires.  Toutefois  cette 
condescendance  ne  satisfit  pas  le  pontife,  qui  s'  engagea  de  plus  en 
plus  dans  la  voie  de  1'  arbitraire.  II  ordonna  aux  administrateurs 
des  fabriques  des  eglises  de  mettre  ses  cures  en  possession  des 
revenus  attaches  a  leur  place.  Comme  ceux-ci  ne  youlurent  pas 
s'  y  preter,  et  que  lui-meme  ne  reconnaissait  plus  le  conseil  du 
culte  catholique  comme  legalement  existant,  il  emit,  pour  ne  pas 
laisser  ses  employes  sans  traitement,  le  5  mai,  1854,  une  ordon- 
nance par  laqueUe  il  enjoignit  k  tons  les  conseils  de  fabrique  de 
ne  plus  reconnaitre  d'  autre  autorite  superieure  que  la  sienne;  il 
en  destitua  les  membres  recalcitrants  et  prescrivit  aux  cures,  en 
leur  qualite  de  presidents  de  ces  conseils,  de  se  mettre  en  pos- 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  Y.  393 

gession  des  obligations,  hypotheques,  et  autres  documents  relatifs 
a  r  administration  financi^re  de  la  paroisse. 

Cette  derni^re  mesure  occasionna  les  plus  grands  troubles  dans 
1'  administration  locale  des  fonds  ecclesiastique  :  un  petit  nombre 
de  ses  membres  se  soumit  ausordres  de  1'  episcopat,  un  plus  grand 
se  demit  de  ses  fonctions,  la  plupart  resista  aux  ordres  archiepisco- 
paux.  Le  gouvernement  de  son  cote  s'  opposa  energiquement  b. 
leur  execution,  et  les  autorites  civiles  se  virent  obligees,  dans 
plusieurs  endroits,  de  faire  arreter  les  cures.  L'  Odenwald, 
oil  les  populations  empech^rent  violemment  I'arrestation  des 
pretres,  fut  le  theatre  de  plusieurs  emeutes;  le  gouvernement, 
pour  faire  respecter  son  autorite,  se  vit  obKge  de  recourir  a  la 
force  militaire. 

Sur  ces  entrefaites,  1'  autorite  judiciaire,  voyant,  dans  les  de- 
crets  episcopaux  du  5  mai,  un  abus  de  pouvoir  manifesto  et  ime 
violation  patente  de  la  loi,  puisqu'  ils  contenaient  1'  ordre  formel 
de  ne  plus  lui  obeir,  se  mit  en  mesure  de  deployer  son  action. 
Le  juge  d'  instruction  du  tribunal  de  Fribourg,  se  rendit  aupr^s 
de  r  arcbev^que,  et  lorsque  se  dernier  refusa  de  repondre 
aux  questions  qui  lui  etaient  adressees,  il  le  mit  aux  arrets  dans 
son  palais. 

Le  pontife  protesta  contre  cet  acte  judiciaire,  fit  interdire  le 
son  des  cloches  et  les  messes  solennelles,  et  adressa,  le  20  mgi,  a 
la  cour  de  justice  une  reclamation  contre  la  procedure  commencee 
k  sa  charge,  pretendant  qu'  en  mati^res  ecclesiastiques  il  n'  avait 
d'  autre  juge  que  le  Pape. 

H  se  soumit  neanmoins  plus  tard  a  1'  interrogatoire  du  juge 
d'  instruction  et  fut  remis  pen  de  jours  apr^s  en  liberte.  L'  en- 
quete  fut  bientot  terminee,  et  la  cour  criminelle  de  Fribourg 
s'  occupe  on  ce  moment  d'  examiner  la  cause  pour  rendre  le 
jugement  definitif.  De  la  part  de  1'  archev^que,  1'  interdit  fut  en 
m^me  temps  leve. 

m. 

Conclusion. 

II  y  a  disaccord  complet  dans  les  rapports  mutuels  de  la  *so- 
ciete  politique  et  religieuse.  La  voie  la  plus  convenable  et  la 
plus  sure  pour  retablir  la  bonne  harmonic  sans  prejudice  pour 
r  Etat  et  pour  1'  Eglise,  est  sans  contredit  celle  de  la  convention, 

17* 


394  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  Y. 

dont  r  acceptation  doit  cependaut  en  dernier  ressort  appartenir  a 
r  Etat,  vu  qu'  il  s'  agit  d'  affaires  exUrieures  de  la  vie  sodale,  et 
que,  pour  nous  servir  des  paroles  de  M.  Laboulaye,*  "  1'  Etat  est 
le  maitre  du  territoire  et  le  representant  de  tous  ceux  qui 
I'habitent;"  son  inter^t  c'est  I'interet  general,  contre  laquelle 
ne  peuvent  prevaloir  des  inter^ts  particuliers,  quelle  qu'  en  soit  la 
nature.  Si  1'  Eglise  se  croit  lesee,  elle  a,  comme  toutes  les  autres 
societes  revues,  le  droit  d'agir  par  voies  Ugales;  elle  pent  ecrire, 
petitionner,  s'  adresser  a.  1'  opinion  publique,  aux  grands  pouvoirs 
de  la  societe ;  mais  si  1'  Etat  persiste  en  une  mesure  que  1'  Eglise 
considere  comme  oppressive,  elle  n'  a  que  le  moyen  de  se  soumet- 
tre  ou,  ce  qu'  elle  ne  fera  pas,  de  quitter  le  territoire.  "  Quand 
on  vous  persecute  en  un  pays,  fuyez  dans  un  autre,"  a  dit  son 
divin  fondateur  (Saint  Matthieu  x.  23).  II  n'  a  pas  permis  ni 
compte  la  resistance  et  la  rebellion  au  nombre  des  moyens,  par 
lesquels  les  fiddles  peuvent  faire  triompher  ce  qu'  ils  croient  etre  la 
v6rite. 

L'  Etat  fera  done  au  pouvoir  ecclesiastique  les  propositions  les 
plus  favorables ;  il  lui  offrira  une  sphere  d'  action  et  de  liberte  aussi 
large  que  possible,  mais  compatible  avec  la  base  et  1'  organisation 
de  la  societe  politique ;  il  n'  abdiquera  en  rien  sa  souverainete. 
Si  les  chefs  de  1'  Eglise,  fut-ce  meme  le  Pape,  refusent  d'  agreer  ces 
propositions,  qui  sont  a  considerer  comme  les  derni^res  concessions 
que  r  Etat  puisse  faire,  il  les  octroiera  comme  la  charte  poUtique 
de  r  Eglise.  C  est  ainsi  que  tous  les  etats  de  la  chretiente  ont 
agi  depuis  Constantin  le  G-rand  jusqu'  k  nos  jours.  Les  souverains 
ont  tous  determine  les  droits  de  1'  Eglise  et  de  1'  episcopat  en  par- 
ticulier,  soit  pas  des  arrangements  appeles  concordats,  conven- 
tions, ou  autrement,  soit  par  des  lois  sanctionnees  en  vertu  de 
leur  souverainete.  Les  decrets  du  concile  de  Bale  n'  ont  reyus 
force  de  loi  en  France,  que  par  la  pragmatique  sanction  du  roi 
Charles  VIL,  apr^s  1'  assemblee  de  Bourges  en  1438,  tandis  qu'  en 
Allemagne  ils  ont  6te  re9us  par  suite  d'  un  concordat  avec  le 
Pape  Eugene  IV. 

En  1801-1802,  la  France  choisit  un  double  voie  pour  retab- 
lir  r  Eglise  catholique,  celle  du  concordat,  qui  n'  eut  de  valeur 
qu*'aprds  avoir  6t6  adopte  comme  loi  nationale,  celle  de  la  legislation. 


•  Revue  de  legialation  et  de  jurisprudence  de  M.  Wolowski  ann6e  1845,  t.  L, 
p.  468. 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  V.  895 

qui  donna  lieu  aux  articles  organiques  du  18  germinal  an  X. ;  ce 
sont  ces  articles  qui,  sauf  quelqes  changements,  qui  y  furent  faits 
plus  tard,  regissent  encore  la  France,  malgre  toutes  les  reclama- 
tions ultramontaines  adressees  aux  diverses  gouvernements,  qui 
s'  y  sont  succede  depuis.  Toutes  les  constitutions  de  la  France, 
meme  celle  de  1848,  etablissent  quelques  principes  fondamentaux 
sur  les  rapports  de  1'  Eglise  avec  l'  Etat.  C  est  ce  qu'  ont  fait 
aussi  les  constitutions  des  divers  Etats  de  la  confederation,  ger- 
manique  depuis  1818.  La  liberte  dont  jouit  1'  Eglise  en  Belgique 
n'  existe,  comme  il  a  ete  dit  plus  haut,  qu'  en  vertu  de  la  consti- 
tution de  ce  pays ;  et  la  legislation  de  Joseph  II.  n'  a  cesse  d'  ^tre 
en  vigueur  en  Autriche,  qu'  autant  qu'  elle  a  ete  abrogee  par  les 
concessions  du  gouvernement  autrichien  faites  en  1850. 

Le  reglement  de  toutes  ces  affaires  devant  emaner,  pour  avoir 
force  obligatoire,  du  pouvoir  legislatif,  il  faut  pour  cela,  dans  les 
Etats  constitutionnels,  le  concours  du  souverain  et  des  cliambres, 
a  moins  que  ces  dernieres  ne  confient  ce  soin  a  la  sagesse  per- 
sonnelle  du  prince  et  de  son  minist^re  responsable.  Dans  le 
si^cle  ou  nous  vivons,  et  apr^s  les  debats  qui  viennent  d'  avoir 
lieu  par  suite  du  conflit  lui-m^me,  il  n'  y  a  plus  d'  oppression 
»  craindre  pour  1'  Eglise  de  la  part  de  1'  Etat. 

Si  Ton  veut  terminer  les  diflferends  par  un  arrangement,  il 
n'  est  pas  necessaire  que  tous  les  points  litigieux  y  soient  decides ; 
cela  ne  se  pent  meme  pas  a  1'  egard  de  ceux  sur  lesquels  1'  Eglise, 
k  cause  du  dogme,  et  1'  Etat,  a  cause  des  principes  fondamentaux 
de  la  constitution,  ne  peuvent  transiger. 

L'  Etat  doit  les  regler  en  vertu  de  sa  souverainete,  et  si  1'  Eglise 
ne  croit  pas  pouvoir  les  confirmer,  elle  s'  y  soumettra  par  neces- 
site;  car  c'est  elle  qui  est  dans  I'Etat,  et  non  I'Etat  dans 
r  Eglise,  comme  I'a  deja  dit  Saint  Optat  au  quatrieme  si^cle  de 
r  6re  chretienne.  Les  eveques  peuvent  tranquilliser  leur  con- 
science, si,  apres  avoir  essay e  de  faire  triompher  le  plus  pos- 
sible le  principe  du  catholicisme,  ils  n'  y  ont  pu  enti^rement 
r^ussir. 

Les  points  a  regler  d'  un  commun  accord  nous  semblent  ^tre 
ceux  qui  concernent : 

1.  La  nomination  aux  places  de  curd^  et  d'  autres  fonctions  ayant 
un  caractere  public.  Si  1' Eglise  catholique  etait  une  societe 
privee,  V  Etat  n'  aurait  nul  interct  a  la  nomination  de  ses  chefs ; 
mais  les  cures  et  chanoines  des  6glises  cath^drales  sont  reconnus 


896  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  Y. 

fonctionnaires  publics,  et  traites  comme  tels  par  1'  Etat ;  ils  sont 
investis  de  droits  que  1'  Etat  lui-m^me  et  tout  le  corps  politique 
doivent  respecter  aussi  bien  que  ceux  de  1'  eveque ;  ils  sont,  com- 
mes  fonctionnaires,  inamovibles  m^me  de  la  part  de  1'  eveque ;  les 
cures  ont  un  pouvoir  exterieur,  a  la  verite  fort  restreint,  mais 
toujours  assez  important  dans  1'  Etat,  et  sont,  en  outre,  officiers  de 
r  etat  civil ;  les  chanoines  sont  membres  du  conseil  administratif 
de  I'Eglise  et  du  tribunal  ecclesiastique,  qui  juge  les  causes 
matrimoniales,  etc.  Comment  peut-on  pretendre  que  I'Etat 
doive  se  laisser  imposer  des  fonctionnaires  ou  magistrats  qui, 
quoiqu'  ils  representent,  en  premier  lieu,  le  pouvoir  ecclesiastique, 
font  neanmoins  partie  de  la  hierarchic  civUe  ?  II  ne  peut  ^tre 
indififerent  a  1'  Etat  que  tel  ou  tel  pretre  soit  cure  en  tel  ou  tel 
endroit ;  ses  relations  journaH^res  avec  les  autorites  civiles  sont 
si  frequentes  et  exigent  une  telle  entente  reciproque  qu'  on  ne 
peut  en  faire  dependre  1'  existence  d'  un  pouvoir  qui  serait  au- 
dessus  de  celui  de  1'  Etat.  C  est  done  une  disposition  fort  sage 
du  19e  article  organique  du  concordat  frangais,  que  "  les  ev^ques 
nommeront  et  institueront  les  cures ;  neanmoins  ils  ne  publieront 
leur  nomination  et  ne  donneront  1'  institution  canonique  qu'  apres 
que  cette  nomination  aura  ete  agreee  par  le  premier  consul,  etc." 
Cette  disposition  avait  ete  consentie  d'  avance  par  1'  art.  10 
du  concordat,  et  le  pape  Pie  VII.  a  lui-m6me  declare,  dans 
TExposizione  dei  sentimenti,  "  qu'  on  pouvait  accorder,  sans  diffi- 
culte,  aux  princes  protestants,  le  droit  de  rayer  de  la  liste  des 
candidats  les  personnes  qui  ne  leur  seraient  point  agreables." 
Nous  pensons  done  que  ce  premier  des  points  litigieux  pourrait 
^tre  decide  avec  d'  autant  plus  de  facility,  que  les  gouvernements 
r6unis  sont  tons  convaincus,  a  1'  heure  presente,  que  le  droit  de 
nommer  k  une  place  ou  dignity  ecclesiastique  n'  emane  point  de 
leur  souverainete. 

2.  Ce  premier  differend  termine,  un  deuxi^me,  qui  s'y  rat- 
tache,  s'  arrangerait  tout  aussi  aisement ;  c'  est  celui  qui  conceme 
les  examens.  J\  est  evident  que  I'examen  des  candidats  ^  la 
pv^trise,  k  leur  entree  aux  seminaires,  et  de  ceux  qui  aspirent  ti 
des  places  de  cure,  est  une  attribution  de  I'ev^que  ;  car  c'  est  lui 
qui  donne  les  ordres  clericaux  et  1'  institution  canonique ;  c'  est 
done  k  lui  de  faire  constater  la  capacite  et  le  m6rite  de  ceux  qui 
veulent  les  recevoir.  Mais  1'  Etat  6tant,  de  son  c6t6,  int^resse,  k 
ce  qu'  il  y  ait  de  bons  pr^tres^  et  le  souverain  devant  connattre  le 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  V.  B97 

m6rite  des  cur^s,  qu'  il  a  le  droit  d'  agreer,  il  faut  aussi  lui  acoorder 
le  droit  de  s'  en  convaincre  et  d'  envoy er  aux  examens  un  com- 
missaire  qui,  sans  avoir  de  voix  deliberative  quant  a  la  reception 
des  candidats,  sera  mis  a  m^me  de  juger  de  leur  merite  et  d'  en 
faire  rapport  a  son  souverain.  Ce  serait  un  acte  d' insubordi- 
nation, si  r  ev^que  ou  son  jury  d'  examen  voulait  s'  opposer  a 
admettre  un  tel  commissaire.  On  ne  pent  pas  exiger  du  souve- 
rain qu'  il  ait  une  confiance  absolue  dans  les  decisions  de  personnes 
qui  lui  sont  tout  k  fait  etrang^res. 

3.  L'  ev^que  a,  en  vertu  de  sa  juridiction  ecclesiastique,  le  droit 
de  punir  tous  ses  fonctionnaires  et  meme  de  les  suspendre  ou  de 
les  destituer ;  mais  quand  ceux-ci  perdent  avec  leurs  places  leurs 
moyens  d'  existence,  les  sentences  du  tribunal  ecclesiastique  pren- 
nent  le  caract^re  d'  un  acte  de  droit  civil.  II  se  pent  aussi  que 
les  condamnes  ne  se  soumettent  pas  de  bon  gre  aux  sentences 
portees  centre  eux,  et  refusent,  par  exemple,  de  se  demettre  de 
leur  place  ou  de  quitter  le  presbytere  ;  1'  eveque  n'  ayant  pas  de 
forces  materielles  dont  il  puisse  disposer,  il  faut  bien  que  1'  Etat 
prete  son  assistance  a  1' execution  de  ces  ordres;  mais  U  doit 
avoir,  a  cet  eflfet,  aussi  le  droit  de  se  convaincre  que  la  sentence, 
qu'  il  est  requis  d'  executer,  est  fondee  en  droit.  L'  autorite  civile 
doit  s'  assurer  que  la  condamnation  de  1'  accuse  repose  sur  une  loi 
penale,  que  1'  ordre  regulier  de  la  procedure  a  ete  observe  et  que 
le  fait  de  la  culpabilite  de  1'  accuse  est  constate  ;  elle  s'  abstiendra 
de  tout  examen  de  questions  dogmatiques  auxquelles  le  proces 
peut  avoir  donne  lieu. 

C  est  une  pretention  exorbitante  de  1'  ^piscopat  du  Haut-Rhin 
de  vouloir  que  les  fonctionnaires  de  1'  Etat  n'  aient  qu'  a  executer 
les  ordres  de  1'  eveque,  d^s  qu'  ils  leur  sont  insinues.  Deux  arch- 
ev^ques  de  Paris  ont  emis  un  avis  tout  a  fait  oppose  a  cette 
Strange  theorie:  savoir  Mgr.  Aflfre,  dans  son  livre  sur  I'appel 
comme  d'  abus,  et  Mgr.  Sibour,  dans  son  remarquable  ouvrage : 
Institutions  diocesaines.  Ce  dernier  s'  exprime  dans  1'  art.  124  de 
ses  statuts  d'  officialite,  de  la  mani^re  suivante  :  "  Lorsque  le  titre 
(d'un  pretre  condamne  par  son  tribunal)  sera  appuye  siir  une 
ordonnance  royale  (c'  est-a-dire  si  sa  nomination  est  agreee  par  le 
chef  de  I'Etat),  1' administration  diocesaine  fera  ses  diligences 
aupr^s  du  gouvernement  pour  faire  revoquer  cette  ordonnance." 
"  Dans  le  cas  de  recours  d'  un  cure,  dont  la  nomination  n'  est  pas 
revocable,  1'  autorite,"  dit  Mgr.  Affire,  "  se  bomera  k  s'  assurer  que 


398  A.PPENDIX  TO  LETTER  V. 

les  regies  essentielles  des  jugements  aient  6te  observ6es,  c'  est-a- 
dire  que  le  coupable  ait  ete  entendu,  ou  s'  il  ne  1'  a  pas  ete,  que  la 
culpabilite  ait  ete  constatee  sur  des  ecrits  emanes  de  lui,  ou  par 
des  temoins."  Telle  est  aussi  la  jurisprudence  du  conseil  d'  Etat, 
dont  les  ev^ques  n'  ont  pas  a  se  plaindre.  C  est  ioi  encore  que  la 
legislation  francaise  peut  servir  de  module  a  1'  Allemagne,  pour 
aplanir  ce  differend,  sur  lequel  on  n'  a  pas  encore  pu  s'  entendre 
jusqu'  aujourd'  hui. 

4.  Un  quatri^me  point  a  regler  d'  un  commun  accord,  c'  est  la 
direction  et  la  surveillance  des  etablissements  destines  k  1'  instruc- 
tion du  clerge,  Les  gouvernements  sont,  en  vertu  des  stipula- 
tions de  1803,  tenus  d'  en  fournir  les  fonds  et,  par  consequent,  en 
droit  de  s'  assurer  de  leur  emploi.  On  peut,  a  cet  egard,  suivre 
deux  systemes  differents,  dont  on  peut  appeler  1'  un  le  syst^me 
fran^ais,  et  1'  autre  le  systeme  allemand.  D'  apres  le  premier,  ces 
6tablissements  sont  purement  ecclesiastiques,  comme  les  petits 
et  les  grands  seminaires  organises  selon  les  principes  du  concile 
de  Trente;  I'ev^que  en  noinme  les  directeurs,  professeurs,  et 
regents,  sur  1'  avis  des  autorites  civiles,  qui  ont  le  droit  de  sur- 
veiller  ces  ^coles  et  pensionnats.*  D'  apr^s  le  systeme  allemand, 
ceux  qui  veulent  devenir  pretres  font  leurs  etudes  dites  human- 
ites  aux  colleges,  gymnases,  ou  lycees  de  1'  Etat,  et  leurs  etudes 
en  theologie  aux  facultes  universitaires ;  les  professeurs  en  sont 
nomm6s  par  le  gouvernement,  sur  1'  avis  autorites  ecclesiastiques, 
qui  ont  en  outre  sur  ces  Etablissements  un  droit  de  surveillance 
plus  ou  moin  restreint.  Cette  surveillance  a  ete  jusqu'  ^  cette 
heure  determine  par  le  gouvernement  tout  seul  et  d'  une  mani^re 
peu  etendue.t    II  suffira  done  pour  le  moment  d'  etendre  un  peu 


•  Voy.  Vuillefroy,  Traite  de  V  adminiatrcUion  du  culte  cathoUque. 

+  "  Les  candidats  k  la  pretrise  doivent  avoir  fait  des  etudes  h  une  faculty  de 
th6ologie  catholique,  soit  du  pays,  soit  d'  une  autre  universito  allemande ;  lis  ne 
Bont  recus  aux  seminaires,  qu'  aprds  avoir  pass^  un  examen  devant  un  commis- 
Bion  mixte,  c'  est-a-dire  tant  gouvernementale  qu'  6pi8copale ;  cette  commission 
se  compose  ordinairement  des  professeurs  en  th6ologie  et  des  professeurs  du  droit 
canon,  sous  la  pr^sidence  d'  un  commissaire  du  gouvernement  et  d'  un  autre 
commissaire  nomm^  par  1'  6v6que  ou  V  archevfique.  D^s  leur  r6ception  au 
B^minaire,  ils  doivent  jouir  de  ce  qu'  on  appelle  le  titre  clerical  ou  de  sustentation, 
Indispensable  pour  recevoir  les  ordres ;  ce  titre  ne  consiste  pas,  comme  en  France, 
d*  apr6s  les  articles  organiques,  dans  la  possession  d'  un  revenu  propre  de  300 
francs,  mais  dans  une  rente  de  300  k  400  florins,  assignee  par  le  souverain  Bur  le 
fonds  eccltisiastlque  k  celui  qui,  k  d^faut  de  cette  allocation,  se  trouverait  sans  sa 
faute  hors  d'  etat  d*  exercer  ses  fonctions.    Le  B6jour  au  seminaire  n'  est  ordi- 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  Y.  399 

plus  ce  pouvoir  de  1'  eveque.  Le  principe  de  la  liberte  de 
1'  enseignement  se  trouve-t-il  en  vigueur  dans  le  pays,  il  faudra 
en  outre,  dans  ce  cas,  permettre  a  1'  eveque  d'  etablir  des  ecoles 
particuli^res  ou  de  faire  donner  discours  de  theologie  a  son 
seminaire,  mais  tout  cela  a  ses  propres  frais  et  en  egard  aux 
conditions  prescrites  en  general  pour  eriger  des  etablissements 
d'  instruction  prives,  sauf  aussi  le  droit  de  surveillance  que  les 
lois  y  accordent  au  pouvoir  civil.  Tout  cela  se  pratique  deja 
maintenant  dans  1'  un  ou  1'  autre  des  Etats  de  la  province  du 
Haut-Rhin,  les  gouvemements  s'  etant  declares  disposes  a  faire 
en  cela  tout  ce  que  1'  episcopat  desirait,  mais  avec  la  reserve  que 
les  etudes  en  theologie  se  fassent,  comme  cela  a  toi^jours  ete  usite 
en  AUemagne,  aux  universites.  C  est  contre  cette  derniere 
restriction  que  les  ev^ques  ont  principalement  toujours  proteste. 

5.  Un  dernier  point  a  regler  par  un  compromis  entre  les  deux 
pouvoirs,  concerne  1'  administration  des  biens  ecclesiastiques  et 
r  emploi  de  leurs  revenus.  H  r^gne  a  cet  egard  une  grande  con- 
fusion dans  les  idees.  Les  gouvemements,  en  vertu  de  leur  droit 
de  curatelle  sur  toutes  les  personnes  incapables  de  regir  leurs 
affaires  de  fortune,  tel  que  les  mineurs,  les  prodigues,  les  corpora- 
tions, et  autres,  se  sont  charges,  de  diriger  1'  administration  de 
tons  les  biens  ecclesiastiques,  en  respectant  neanmoins  la  volonte 
des  fondateurs.  L'  episcopat,  de  son  cote,  reclame  le  droit  de 
surveillance  et  de  controle  administratif  sur  tons  ces  biens,  ainsi 
que  r  administration  libre  et  sans  controle  des  caisses  centrales 
creees  par  les  gouvemements  pour  les  interets  generaux  de 
r  Eglise  cathohque  de  leurs  pays,  la  legislation  canonique  ayant, 

nairement  que  d'  une  annee ;  il  est  desting  h  V  6tude  de  la  liturgie  et  k  V  initiation 
des  candidats  h  leur  saint  minist^re. 

"  II  n'  y  a  point  de  petits  seminaires ;  les  etudes  dites  humanit^s  se  font,  pour 
ceux  qui  se  vouent  a  la  pretrise,  soit  aux  colleges  ou  lycees  ordinaires,  soit  aux 
ecoles  ecclesiastiques  secondaires  fondees  et  dingoes  par  le  gouvernement ;  ces 
demidres  ont  des  pensionnats,  et  leur  professeurs  et  regents  sont  nomm^s  sur 
r  avis  donne  par  les  eveques  de  leur  capacite  et  moralite.  Aux  universites  de 
Fribourg  et  de  Tubingen  il  y  a  des  pensionnats  fort  bien  organises  et  dirig^s  par 
des  ecclesiastiques  que  le  gouvernement  choisit  apres  s'  etre  concerte  avec 
r  eveque ;  on  compte  toujours  dans  ces  pensionnats  de  120  4  150  616ve8  en 
theologie,  qui  y  sont  pour  la  plupart  nourris,  habilles,  et  pourvus  du  necessaire 
aux  frais  de  1'  Etat ;  les  sommes  destinees  a  ces  depenses  sont  portees  au  budget 
de  r  Etat ;  de  meme  que  les  subsides  des  pensionnats  attaches  aux  6coles 
secondaires,  et  ceux  qui  s'  appliquent  k  V  instruction  des  el6ves  recuB  au 
seminaire ;  sous  ce  rapport  c'  est  comme  en  France,  ou  le  gouvernement  a  dot6 
de  bourses  les  seminaires  et  les  6coles  ecclesiastiques  secondaires." 


400  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  Y. 

de  meme  que  le  droit  romain,  attribue  1'  administration  de  cette 
sorte  de  biens  a  1'  ev^que. 

Mais  il  est  evident  que  c'  est  la  question  de  la  propriete  de  ces 
biens  qui  doit  decider  de  leur  administration.  II  se  pent  qu'  ils 
appartiennent  a  une  corporation,  par  exemple,  a  une  commune, 
a  r  Etat,  ou  a  1'  institution  elle-meme,  si  elle  jouit  des  droits  de 
personne  civile ;  il  se  pent  aussi  qu'  ils  appartiennent  a  une  society 
de  particuliers  ou  meme  a  un  seul  individu ;  ce  n'  est  que  leur 
destination^  qui  donne  a  ces  hiens  le  caractere  eccUsiastique. 
L'  administration  en  appartient  de  droit  a  celui  qui  en  est  la 
proprietaire ;  done,  si  c'  est  une  corporation,  elle  sera  soumise  a 
la  surveillance  des  autorites  civiles. 

Les  gouvernements  ayant  cree  les  caisses  centrales  du  culte 
cathoKque,  non  pas  pour  1' eveche,  mais  pour  la  population 
catholique  de  leur  Etats,  ils  les  ont  fait  administrer  par  des 
employes  nommes  par  eux,  et  ont  determine  I'emploi  des  fonds, 
de  maniere  cependant  qu'  il  ne  se  fasse  point  sans  le  consentement 
de  r  autorite  ecclesiastique,  et  en  lui«  permettant  le  controle  des 
recettes  annuelles.  Si  Ton  veut  cependant  respecter  le  droit 
canon,  en  ce  qu'il  a  de  reellement  applicable  dans  cette  circon- 
stance,  U  faudra  a  1'  avenir  confier  cette  administration  k  une 
commission  mixte,  ou  que  la  source  principale  de  ces  fonds  con- 
siste  dans  les  revenus  de  benefices  vacants  qui,  selon  les  principes 
du  droit  ecclesiastique  en  vigueur,  ne  peuvent  recevoir  d'  autre 
destination  sans  le  consentement  de  deux  autorites. 

Dans  le  cas  oii  1'  episcopat  ne  pourrait  ou  ne  voudrait  pas 
s'  arranger  sur  ces  points  de  contestation  avec  les  gouvernements, 
ceux-ci  seraient  dans  la  necessite  et  par  la  meme  en  droit  de 
trancher  le  conflit  existant  par  une  loi,  que  1'  episcopat  devrait 
apr^s  tout  respecter,  s'  il  ne  veut  pas  se  rendre  coupable  d'  actions 
criminelles.  II  sera  oblige  d'  agir  de  m^me  i  1'  egard  des  autres 
articles  qui  forment  1'  objet  de  ses  griefs.  Ceux-ci  sont  de  nature 
k  ^tre  regies  exclusivement  par  1'  Etat,  vu  qu'  il  ne  s'  y  agit  que 
d'  actions  exterieures  de  1'  autorite  ecclesiastique,  et  non  essen- 
tielles  pour  le  salut,  telles  que  des  processions  en  dehors  de 
r  Eglise,  de  1'  erection  de  convents,  etc.  Ces  affaires  sont  de 
deux  esp^ces ;  les  unes  sont  5.  regler  par  des  lois  preventives,  les 
autres  par  des  lois  repressives.  Certains  actes,  tels  que  ceux  que 
nous  venons  de  nommer,  ne  doivent  a  cause  des  inconvenients 
qui  peuvent  en  r^sulter,  6tre  permis  qu'  avec  1'  autorisation  pr6- 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  V.  401 

alable  des  autorites  civiles;  d'autres,  qui  seraient  de  veritables 
abus  de  pouvoir,  ne  doivent  pas  etre  toleres  du  tout :  par  exemple, 
la  censure  des  lois  et  des  ordonnances  du  gouvernement  du  haut 
de  la  chaire ;  1'  interdiction  des  ecoles  publiques  par  1'  eveque,  a 
moins  qu'  on  n'  ait  pas  fait  droit  a  ses  plaintes  bien  motivees  ; 
r  excommunication  de  fonctionnaires  publics,  pour  avoir  execute 
les  lois  et  les  ordres  legaux  du  gouvernement,  etc.  M.  Laboulaye, 
dans  un  interessant  article,  ecrit  a  V  occasion  de  la  lutte  remarqua- 
ble  qui  eclata  en  1845  en  France  sur  le  maintien  du  Manuel  du 
droit  ecclesiastique  de  M.  Dupin,  a  donne  beaucoup  de  details  sur 
ces  divers  cas,  tous  egalement  prevus  par  la  legislation  frangaise.* 
Quelques-uns  de  ces  actes  coupables  sont  traites  fort  severement 
dans  le  code  penal  de  1810,  art.  199-207 ;  la  legislation  penale 
de  r  Allemagne  est  biens  moins  rigoureuse,  et  cependant  1'  epis- 
copat  s'  en  est  plaint  fort  am^rement.  Les  sermons,  par  exemple, 
que  r  archeveque  de  Fribourg  a  ordonne  de  faire,  auraient  ete 
defendus  en  France  en  vertu  de  1'  art.  199  du  code  penal;  dans 
le  grand-duche  de  Bade  on  n'  a  poursuivi  que  les  pretres  qui  s'  y 
etaient  permis  des  invectives  et  des  calomnies  centre  le  gouverne- 
ment. 


B. 

A  PROJECT  OF  LAW  PROPOSED  BY  PROFESSOR 
WARNKONIG  CONCERNINa  THE  EXTERNAL  AF- 
FAIRS OF  THE  CHURCH  IN  THE  PROVINCE  OF 
THE  UPPER  RHINE.t 

•      ARTICLE  I. 

The  free  administration  of  the  government  of  the  Church  is 
guarantied  to  the  Bishop  and  his  cathedral  chapter.  The  meas- 
ures he  enacts  are  to  be  communicated  to  the  G-overnment ;  and 
in  so  far  as  the  co-operation  of  the  civil  executive  is  necessary  to 
carry  them  into  effect,  they  are  subject  to  the  approbation  of  the 
reigning  prince. 

*  Ed.  Laboulaye  (Membre  de  1'  Institut,  professenr  an  college  du  France) : 
" De  V Eglise  cathoUque  et  de  V  Etai,"  dans  la  Revue  de  legislation  et  de  juris- 
prudence de  M.  Wolowskl,  ann6e  1845,  t.  i.,  p.  446. 

t  Extracted  from  Schletter's  "  Jahrbiichem  deutscfien  RecTUswissensehaft  und 
Gesetzgebung:'     Bd.  I.,  Heft.  3,  S.  249.    Anm.  (Erlangen  1855.) 


402  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  Y. 

ARTICLE  IL 

No  public  act  of  authority  can  be  performed  by  an  ecclesiastic, 
nominated  to  a  benefice  by  a  Bishop,  or  the  administrator  of  a 
bishopric,  without  the  sanction,  express  or  tacit,  of  the  sovereign. 

ARTICLE  IIL 

All  examinations  of  students  before  reception  into  the  semin- 
aries for  priests,  and  all  the  competitive  examinations  of  ordained 
clergymen  for  appointments,  shall  be  attended  by  a  comrnissioner 
deputed  by  the  Crown,  who  shall  communicate  to  the  Govern- 
ment his  opinion  of  the  abilities  and  moral  worth  of  the  candi- 
dates. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

The  Titulus  7nens(B,  to  be  distributed  and  supplied  from  the 
moneys  of  the  State,  or  from  a  general  ecclesiastical  fund,  is 
guarantied  to  such  candidates  only  as  have  been  examined  by  the 
commissioner  of  the  Crown,  and  found  worthy  of  the  same. 

ARTICLE  V. 

The  ConvktuSj  or  training  institutions  for  future  theologians, 
estabhshed  by  Government  grants,  as  also  the  theological  faculty 
in  the  universities,  shall  be  under  the  inspection  both  of  the  State 
and  the  Bishop.  No  professor  or  master  of  such  institutions  shall 
be  appointed  without  the  consent  of  the  Bishop. 

ARTICLE  VL 

The  Catholic  Ecclesiastical  Funds  formed  from  the  revenues  of 
vacant  benefices  or  other  moneys,  are  regarded  as  foundations  of 
a  corporate  character  made  by  CathoUcs  for  their  brethren  in 
rehgion.  These  moneys  are  to  be  administered  by  a  Board,  of 
which  half  the  members  shall  be  nominated  by  the  Crown,  and 
half  by  the  Bishop,  and  the  revenues  of  which  can  not  be  appUed 
without  the  consent  of  the  Bishop.  The  management  of  aU  local 
ecclesiastical  funds  and  foundations  is  under  the  superintendence 
of  the  Government. 

ARTICLE  vn. 

In  cases  where  the  co-operation  of  the  civil  power  is  required 
to  execute  a  sentence  pronounced  against  an  ecclesiastic,  it  is 
necessary  that  the  verdict,  together  with  the  minutes  of  the  pro- 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  V.  403 

ceedings,  should  be  submitted  to  the  civil  court  which  has  cogni- 
zance of  such  matters.  And  the  court  shall  not  proceed  to  carry 
such  sentence  into  effect  until  it  have  examined  these  documents 
and  found  them  regular  and  vaHd  in  point  of  law ;  if  it  find  the 
contrary  it  shall  cancel  the  verdict. 

ARTICLE  vni. 

Religious  instruction,  in  the  primary  and  other  schools,  is  under 
the  exclusive  superintendence  of  the  Bishop  :  but  in  the  secular 
instruction,  he  and  his  clergy  shall  take  no  further  share  than 
that  assigned  them  by  special  regulations  of  the  Grovemment. 

ARTICLE  IX. 

Every  act  of  insubordination  on  the  part  of  the  Bishop  or  other 
clergyman  to  the  laws  of  the  State  or  the  decrees  of  the  Crown, 
as  also  episcopal  injunctions  issued  with  the  object  of  compelHng 
civil  functionaries  to  lay  down  their  office,  or  to  refrain  from  ful- 
filling its  duties,  shall  be  punished  by  a  term  of  imprisonment  not 
under  six  months,  or  exceeding  two  years,  and  in  case  the  offense 
be  repeated  the  penalty  shall  be  doubled. 


APPENDIX    TO    LETTER  VII 


DOCUMENTS   RELATING   TO   THE   EECENT 
PERSECUTIONS. 


A. 

THE    PERSECUTION"    OF    DOMENICO    CECCHETTI 
IN    TUSCANY.* 


SHORT  NARRATIVE  OF  THE  FACTS. 

Florence,  March  30th,  1855. 

Another  Tuscan  Protestant  has  been  made  to  feel  the  venge- 
ance of  the  Popish  priests.  Domenico  Cecchetti  was  seized  last 
Sunday  morning  at  half-past  four,  hurried  away  from  his  children 
to  the  prison  of  the  Bargello,  condemned  without  any  trial,  with- 
out any  witnesses,  by  the  Council  of  Prefecture,  to  a  year's  con- 
finement in  the  penitentiary  of  Imbrogiano,  near  Monte  Lupo, 
whither  he  was  conveyed  in  chains  the  next  morning ;  the  crimes 
for  which  he  was  consigned  to  a  dungeon  being,  the  possession 
of  one  Bible,  in  Diodati's  translation,  and  two  Testaments,  and 
the  avowal,  when  examined  by  the  Chancellor  of  the  Delegation 
of  Santa  Maria  Novella,  that  "he  considered  Jesus  Christ  the  sole 
Head  of  the  Church ! 

The  circumstances  which  led  to  this  arrest  are  so  characteristic 
of  the  spy  system  now  prevalent  throughout  Tuscany,  that  I 
make  no  apology  for  communicating  them  in  detail.  Domenico 
Cecchetti  is  a  workman  employed  in  the  tobacco  manufactory  of 
Messrs.  Emmanuel  Fenzi  and  Co.,  the  well-known  bankers,  who 

•  From  the  Christtian  Tiiwea  of  April  6, 1856,  quoted  in  the  Journal  dea  Debats 
of  the  28th  May.    Compare  also  the  Allgemeine  Zntung  of  the  1  fit  and  5th  June. 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  YII.  405 

have  for  years  farmed  this  monopoly.  He  was  one  of  the  best 
workmen  in  the  establishment,  earning  five  pauls  a-day,  and  en- 
joyed the  esteem  and  confidence  of  his  employers  in  the  highest 
possible  degree.  His  age  is  about  forty-three,  and  as  he  is  a 
widower,  with  four  boys,  of  whom  the  eldest  is  sixteen,  and  the 
youngest  six,  there  has  devolved  on  him  not  only  the  task  of 
maintaining  his  family,  but  of  discharging  all  those  domestic  duties 
which  are  a  mother's  peculiar  province.  And  those  duties  he  has 
discharged  so  well,  that  his  four  boys  are  patterns  of  good  conduct, 
and  the  whole  neighborhood  is  wont  to  speak  of  Cecchetti's 
children  as  models  of  what  children  ought  to  be.  The  two  eldest 
were  already  employed  in  the  tobacco  manufactory,  where  they, 
too,  earned  on  an  average  a  lira  a-day  each.  Cecchetti  hved  on 
the  first  floor  of  a  house  in  the  Via  Taddea,  close  to  the  tobacco 
manufactory.  In  another  small  apartment  on  the  same  floor  was 
lodged  a  young  man,  the  apprentice  of  a  vintner  in  Borgo  La 
Koce.  He  was  struck  by  the  good  conduct  of  the  young 
Oecchettis,  and  by  the  excellent  and  kind  bearing  of  the  father ; 
and,  in  the  course  of  conversation  and  famihar  intercourse,  at 
length  learned  that  the  father  was  in  the  habit  of  reading,  with 
his  children  and  his  friends,  the  Bible.  And  in  casual  chat  with 
his  own  master,  he  repeated  this  circumstance  to  him,  expressing 
his  belief  that  the  Bible  could  not  be  such  a  very  bad  book  after 
all,  when  it  produced  such  happy  fi-uits. 

A  few  days  afterward  the  vintner  went  to  confession  at  San 
Lorenzo,  and  there  mentioned  to  his  confessor  that  his  apprentice 
had  been  talking  to  him  about  Diodati's  Bible,  which  he  thought 
not  so  bad  as  it  had  been  represented.  The  priest  immediately 
interrupted  the  confession,  and  refused  him  absolution.  Next 
day  he  met  the  Priest  Baratti,  the  head  curate  of  San  Lorenzo, 
and  one  of  the  fiercest  and  most  relentless  persecutors  of  the  Tus- 
can Protestants.  "  What  is  the  matter  with  you,"  asked  the 
Priest  Baratti:  "you  seem  so  dull?"  "Ah,  Curate,  no  wonder; 
yesterday  I  was  refused  absolution."  "Refused  absolution!" 
rejoined  the  Curate,  "  impossible !  refuse  absolution  to  so  good  a 
Cathohc  as  you !  There  must  be  some  mistake ;  come  to  my 
house,  and  confess  to  me,  and  I  hope  it  will  prove  nothing." 

The  vintner  made  his  confession  to  Curate  Baratti,  and  re- 
ceived absolution  all  snug  and  comfortable ;  and  Curate  Baratti 
lost  no  time  in  denouncing  Cecchetti  to  the  Tuscan  pohce  as 


406  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  VII. 

guilty  of  the  crime  of  Protestant  propagandism,  and  requiring 
tliem  to  watch  over  his  proceedings,  and,  if  possible,  to  seize  him 
in  the  act. 

Accordingly,  some  three  months  ago,  four  gens-d'  armes  sud- 
denly entered  Cecchetti's  house,  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening. 
They  expected  to  have  found  him,  in  company  with  other  in- 
quirers, reading  the  Scriptures ;  they  found  only  another  fellow- 
lodger  named  CioUi,  who  had  come  to  repay  Cecchetti  the  sum 
of  five  pauls,  which  he  borrowed  from  him  on  the  previous  day. 
But  they  seized  and  carried  off  in  triumph  one  copy  of  Diodati's 
Bible,  and  two  copies  of  the  New  Testament. 

Cecchetti  heard  nothing  more  of  the  matter  for  nearly  ten 
weeks.  On  the  morning  of  Wednesday,  the  10th  instant,  he  re- 
ceived an  order  to  appear  before  the  Delegate  of  Santa  Maria 
Novella  on  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day ;  then  and  there  he 
was  examined  by  the  Chancellor  of  the  Delegation,  and  required 
to  declare  why  three  copies  of  Diodati's  Bible  and  Testament 
were  found  in  his  possession.  "  Indeed,  Signor  Delegato,"  was 
the  answer,  "  I  only  wish  there  had  been  five  instead  of  three, 
for  there  are  five  of  us,  my  four  boys  and  myself,  and  we  require 
a  Bible  a-piece."  The  CanceUiere  successively  interrogated  him 
as  to  his  opinion  on  mass,  confession,  the  authority  of  the  Pope — 
on  aU  which  points  he  expressed  his  opinion  without  reserve. 
He  replied,  that  Jesus  Christ  had  been  once  offered  up  as  a  sac- 
rifice for  the  sins  of  mankind ;  no  further  sacrifice  was  or  could 
be  wanted.  He  said,  "  As  for  confession,  when  I  have  sinned,  it 
is  my  duty  to  confess  my  sin,  first  to  Almighty  God,  and  implore 
his  pardon;  then  to  my  brother,  if  I  have  acted  wrongly  against 
my  brother :  to  you,  Signor  CanceUiere,  for  example,  if  I  have 
ofiiended  you.  As  to  the  Pope  being  Head  of  the  Church,  I 
know,"  he  said,  "  no  headship  but  that  of  Jesus  Christ.  The 
Pope  is — a  constituted  authority,  like  you,  Signor  CanceUiere." 
*  *  *  But  though  he  spoke  thus  freely  on  some  matters, 
neither  wheedling  nor  bullying  could  induce  him  to  reveal  the 
name  of  one  of  the  Christian  brethren  with  whom  he  read  and 
discoursed  upon  the  Scriptures.  His  answer,  invariably  was: 
"  On  all  points  regarding  myself,  I  will  answer  you  without  the 
slightest  reserve ;  but  questions  likely  to  commit  my  friends  I  can 
not  and  will  not  reply  to."  The  CanceUiere,  finding  the  attempt 
hopeless,  then  read  over  the  minutes  of  the  exatoination.     Cec- 


.       APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  VII.  407 

chetti  himself  perused  it,  and  signed  the  same ;  and  so,  for  the 
time,  the  affair  terminated  with  the  dismissal  of  the  accused. 
The  paper  thus  obtained  was  submitted  to  the  Council  of  Pre- 
fecture, which,  on  the  avowals  it  contained,  sentenced  Domenico 
Cecchetti  to  a  year's  imprisonment  in  the  Penitentiary  of  Im- 
brogiano. 

On  the  morning  of  Sunday,  the  25th,  the  gens-d'armes  were 
charged  with  the  execution  of  the  sentence.  They  entered  the 
house  of  Cecchetti  at  half-past  four,  and  told  him  that  they  had 
been  sent  to  convey  him  to  the  Bargello,  from  whence  he  was 
not  likely  soon  to  return.  Hastily  kissing  his  four  boys,  he  bade 
them  farewell,  leaving  ihem.  to  the  care  of  Him  with  whom  is 
strength  and  wisdom,  and  whose  are  both  the  deceiver  and  the 
deceived.  On  the  following  morning  he  was  met,  at  a  quarter  to 
seven,  guarded  by  two  gens-d'armes,  and  heavily  ironed,  pale, 
but  calm,  on  his  way  to  the  Leghorn  railway,  by  which  he  was 
to  go  to  Monte  Lupo. 

IL 

Copy  of  the  Decree  of  the  Prefecture  of  Florence,  condemn- 
ing Domenico  Cecchetti  to  a  year's  imprisonment  in  the  House 
of  Correction. 

(From  the  Christian  Times,  May  18,  1855.) 

The  Delegation  of  Government  of  the  Quarter  of  San  Maria 
Novella,  intimates  to  Domenico,  son  of  the  late  Pietro  Cecchetti, 
a  widower,  having  children,  cigar  workman  by  profession,  the 
integral  copy  of  a  decree  issued  against  him  by  the  Council  of 
Prefecture  of  the  Compartment  of  Florence,  in  the  sitting  of  the 
21st  of  March,  1855. 

The  most  illustrious  gentlemen,  the  Cavahere  Prefetto,  and  the 
Counselors  of  Prefecture  of  the  Compartment  of  Florence  having 
met  in  full  number,  having  seen  the  legal  proceedings  commimi- 
cated  by  the  Delegation  of  Government  of  the  Quarter  of  Santa 
Maria  Kovella,  against  the  said  Cecchetti  for  irregular  conduct  in 
matters  of  religion ; 

Considering  that  on  the  evening  of  the  16th  December,  1854, 
the  public  force  having  proceeded  to  make  a  perquisition  in  the 
house  of  Cecchetti,  found  him  in  the  company  of  Ciolli,  and  of  two 
of  his  own  sons,  seated  at  a  small  table,  on  which  there  was  lying 


408  APPENDIX"  TO  LETTER  VII. 

open  a  copy  of  the  Bible  translated  by  Diodati;  another  copy, 
shut ;  a  third  being  found  in  the  drawer  of  the  said  table ; 

Considering  that  the  possession  of  these  books  and  of  certain 
papers  (though  pronounced  by  the  judicial  authorities  to  furnish 
no  grounds  for  legal  proceedings)  nevertheless  occasioned  the 
communication  of  the  facts  to  the  administrative  functionaries  of 
the  Government,  by  whom  the  existence  of  the  said  facts  has 
been  fully  verified ; 

Considering  that  while,  from  the  inquiries  made  by  the  Grov- 
ernment,  no  special  charges  of  any  weight  have  resulted  respect- 
ing Ciolli,  Augrisoni,  and  more  particularly  Veltroni,  numerous 
details  have  been  obtained  regarding  Cecchetti,  who  has  openly 
avowed  that  he  holds  principles  quite  contrary  to  the  Catholic 
religion — ^principles  which  are,  in  fact,  identical  with  the  Cal- 
vinistic  faith ; 

Considering  that  the  conduct  of  Cecchetti  is  stiU  more  blame- 
able,  from  his  custom  of  communicating  to  others  his  pecuHar 
religious  ideas,  and  from  his  own  admission  that  he  had  not 
taken  the  proper  steps  for  making  the  eldest  of  his  four  sons, 
who  is  17  years  of  age,  comply  with — as  in  fact  he  has  not  com- 
plied with — the  duties  imposed  by  the  Eoman  Cathohc  Church, 
and  the  rites  of  the  Catholic  religion ;  that,  on  the  contrary,  he 
procured  for  both  his  eldest  and  his  second  boy  a  Bible  each, 
adding,  that  he  would  have  done  the  same  for  his  other  two  sons 
had  he  been  able  to  obtain  the  books  ; 

Considering  that  it  equally  results  from  the  inquiries  made, 
that  on  certain  fixed  evenings  there  met  at  Cecchetti's  house 
persons  not  belonging  to  his  own  family ;  and  there  is  just  reason 
for  believing  that  such  meetings  were  held  for  the  purpose  of 
propagating  the  anti-Catholic  ideas  entertained  by  the  accused, 
Cecchetti  having  himself  confessed,  that  while  reading  the  Bible 
according  to  his  constant  custom,  there  have  been  present  not 
only  the  members  of  his  own  family,  but  persons  unconnected 
with  the  same ;  and  that  he  did  not  refuse  to  give,  but  actually 
held  it  to  be  his  duty  to  impart  explanations  on  religious  subjects 
to  those  who  asked  him ; 

Considering  that  in  this  state  of  matters  it  appears  necessary 
that  the  efibrts  of  Cecchetti  to  damage  the  Roman  Catholic  relig- 
ion be  rendered  inefiectual,  and  that  the  Government  authorities 
aie  bound  to  take  steps  for  the  prevention  of  further  mischief; 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  VII.  409 

for  these  reasons,  having  seen  the  articles  of  the  law  of  ISTo- 
vember  16th,  1852,  the  Council  hereby  decree  that  Domenico 
Cecchetti  be  condemned  to  imprisonment  for  one  year  in  the 
House  of  Correction. 

III. 
Scene  in  the  Prison. — (From  the  same.) 

Cecchetti's  eldest  boy  was  allowed  to  visit  him  last  Sunday  in 
his  prison  at  Imbrogiane.  He  was  greatly  shocked  at  seeing  his 
&ther  in  the  coarse  prison-dress  which  by  the  rules  of  the  estab- 
lishment he  was  compelled  to  wear ;  but  Cecchetti  assured  him 
that  in  general  he  had  no  cause  of  complaint ;  that  he  was  well 
treated,  both  by  the  Director  and  all  the  officers  of  the  jail.  The 
Director,  indeed,  exhibited  the  greatest  kindness  to  the  boy  him- 
self; but  the  head  inspector,  I  regret  to  say,  did  not  manifest  the 
same  kindly  feelings.  "It  serves  him  right,"  he  said:  "what 
business  has  he  to  mix  himself  up  "v^th  the  Protestant  Propa- 
ganda and  abandon  the  religion  of  his  fathers  ?  And  then  he  is 
so  obstinate :  we  have  tried  to  make  him  comply  with  the  relig- 
ious ceremonies  of  the  house ;  but  we  have  now  given  it  up  as  a 
hopeless  task."  And  on  Cecchetti  addressing  a  few  words  of 
comfort  and  exhortation  to  his  poor  boy,  and  telling  him  to  hold 
fast  to  the  principles  in  which  he  had  brought  him  up,  he  at  once 
interrupted  the  conversation  with  the  remark — "  We  can  allow 
no  talk  of  this  kind  in  the  prison." 


B. 

THE  PERSECUTION  OF  JOHANNES  EVANQELISTA 
BORCZINSKI,  LATE  LAY  BROTHER  OF  THE 
ORDER  OF  BRETHREN  OF  MERCY  IN  PRAaUE. 

L 

Connected  Narrative  of  what  has  actually  taken  place,  drawn 
from  authentic  sources.  (Written  in  Breslau,  May  29th, 
1855.) 

The  ^^ZevS^  of  the  13th  of  this  month,  and  since  then,  several 
other  papers,  have  already  related  an  occurrence  in  Bohemia 
18. 


410  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  VII. 

which  is  making  the  greatest  sensation  in  our  province.  It  is  the 
persecution  of  the  Bohemian  monk  Johannes  Evangelista  Borc- 
zynski,  on  accouni  of  his  conversion  to  the  Protestant  Church ;  a 
persecution  which  far  surpasses  in  odiousness  that  of  the  Madiai 
and  CJecchetti,  because  the  latter  were  at  least  assumed  to  have 
transgressed  certain  forms  of  law,  while  Borczynski  has  acted 
under  the  protection  of  an  unrepealed  statute,  and  hd»  persecutors 
are  direct  violators  of  the  law. 

Borczynski,  a  graduate  in  surgery  and  accoucheur,  was  a 
Brother  of  Mercy,  and  provisional  head  physician  in  the  convent 
of  that  Order  at  Prague.  For  seventeen  years  he  had  belonged 
to  that  Order,  and  had  had  ample  opportunity  of  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  its  internal  abuses.  His  own  meditations  forced 
on  his  mind  the  untenableness  of  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
works,  and  in  the  lessons  from  Holy  Scripture  which  he  read 
from  the  Breviary,  he  found  a  complete  confirmation  of  his 
doubts.  Thus  he  became  a  Protestant,  without  any  external  in- 
fluence whatever,  nay,  even  without  having  been  able  to  read  the 
Holy  Scriptures^  the  study  of  which  was  forbidden  him.  Con- 
vinced by  the  fact  of  a  recent  reform  in  the  Order,  being  whoUy 
limited  to  its  external  proceedings,  that  no  improvement  could  be 
expected  from  Rome,  he  resolved  formally  to  secede  from  the 
Romish  Church.  Conversion  from  the  Romish  to  the  Protestant 
Church  is,  up  to  the  present  day,  sanctioned  by  the  law  of 
Austria.  The  only  stipulation  attached  to  it  is  that  the  convert 
should  announce  his  change  of  religion  to  the  minister  of  his 
parish  in  the  presence  of  two  witnesses,  and  that  the  clergyman 
of  the  Protestant  congregation  which  he  joins  should  furnish  him 
with  a  certificate  of  his  reception  into  that  body.  Never  has  this 
legal  privilege  heen  repealed  or  modifled  in  the  case  of  the  secular  or 
monastic  clergy.  Borczynski,  therefore,  acted  simply  in  accord- 
ance with  the  law  when  he  made  this  change.  Nevertheless,  he 
was  unable  to  find  any  Protestant  clergyman  in  Bohemia  who 
had  the  courage  to  receive  him,  as  all  feared  that  a  law  might 
be  applied  to  them  which  punishes  illegal  proselytism  with  a 
term  of  imprisonment  not  exceeding  four  years.  Borczynski 
therefore  entered  the  Protestant  Church  in  Prussia.  On  occasion 
of  his  removal  to  a  house  of  the  Order  in  Tetschen,  he  made  the 
required  announcement  before  the  Romish  parish  priest,  notified 
his  intended  change  to  the  superiors  of  the  monastery  in  Prague, 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  YIL         411 

and  the  Provincial  of  the  Order  in  Vienna,  and  crossed  the  fron- 
tier into  Prussia.  On  the  17th  of  January,  1855,  he  formally 
declared  his  accession  to  the  Protestant  Church,  receiving  the 
Holy  Communion  in  both  kinds  in  the  parish  Church  of  St.  Peter 
and  St.  Andrew,  at  Petershain,  near  Niesky,  from  the  hands  of 
his  fellow-countryman — ^himself  a  convert — ^Pastor  Nowotzki, 
who  gave  him  the  certificate  required  by  law. 

Borczynski  had  already  been  warned  not  to  return  to  Austria  ; 
but,  confiding  in  the  purity  of  his  conscience '  and  the  justice  of 
his  Government,  he  disregarded  this  warning. 

A  plot  had  been  laid  against  him,  however,  from  the  moment 
of  his  declaration  before  the  priest,  and  he  was  obliged  to  Hve  in 
concealment  in  Moravia,  until  at  the  end  of  February,  he  was 
betrayed  by  agents  of  the  police  to  the  gens-d'armes,  who  ar- 
rested him  and  conveyed  him  back  to  his  monastery  in  Prague. 
It  is  true  the  secular  arm  had  not  been  put  in  motion  by  its  own 
will,  but  had  acted  at  the  demand  of  the  ecclesiastical  authori- 
ties ;  but  it  had  not  refused  to  treat  as  a  criminal  a  man  who  had 
done  nothing  -but  what  was  allowed  by  law.  Borczynski  is  at 
the  present  time  in  the  monastery  at  Prague  in  strict  confine- 
ment, from  which  he  has  no  hope  of  release,  unless  he  abjures 
the  Gospel,  or  unless  the  Imperial  Government  takes  him  under 
its  protection  against  his  persecutors.  But  how  can  we  venture 
to  hope  for  his  liberation  when  we  Imow  that  another  priest  who 
was  converted  to  the  Protestant  faith,  Joachim  Zazule,  has  been 
confined  in  the  same  convent  for  twenty  years^  and  is  treated  as 
a  lunatic  because  he  will  not  recant  ? 

Strict  as  is  the  confinement  of  Borczynski,  the  mode  in  which 
he  has  been  treated  has  been  made  no  secret  of.  If  it  reached 
the  light  in  no  other  way,  it  would  become  known  by  the  tri- 
umphant speeches  of  the  other  monks.  Immediately  after  his 
consignment  to  the  convent  in  Prague,  he  was  placed  in  a  solitary 
cell,  next  to  the  cells  appropriated  to  the  insane,  and  examined 
by  the  Co-visitor  of  the  Order,  the  Canon  Dittrich,  who,  after 
vainly  trying  to  make  him  sensible  of  the  greatness  of  his  crime 
(he  represented  to  him  that  it  was  a  worse  sin  than  if  he  had 
absconded  from  the  convent  with  ten  thousand  silver  florins), 
placed  him  in  absolute  solitude,  deprived  him  of  all  his  books, 
even  those  on  medicine,  and  forbade  him  any  but  the  poorest 
diet    Lastly,  the  Canon  carried  the  matter  before  the  Primate 


'412  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  VII. 

of  Hungary,  Cardinal  Leitowsky,  at  Gran.  But  ere  the  decision 
of  the  Piimate  arrived,  Borcyznski's  position  had  altered  for  the 
worse.  During  Passion  Week  he  had  petitioned  the  Canon  Dit- 
trich  for  permission  to  receive  the  communion  from  an  Evangelical 
clergyman.  As  a  punishment  he  was  thrown  into  another  prison, 
doubly  locked,  and  in  perfect  darkness,  with  the  cells  of  two 
madmen  beside  it,  and  the  cesspools  of  the  convent  opposite, 
and  was  placed  on  a  diet  of  bread  and  water.  The  decision  of 
Cardinal  Leitowsky  ran  thus : — The  strictest  confinement,  with 
days  of  fasting  and  penance ;  the  fast-days  to  be  Monday,  Wed- 
nesday and  Friday,  on  bread  and  water ;  and  the  prisoner  to  be 
visited  by  an  ascetic  priest :  the  result  to  be  reported  to  the  Car- 
dinal. Such  has  been  the  treatment  of  Borczynski  since  that 
time,  only  that  after  two  fruitless  visits  the  ascetic  priest  had  not 
returned.  Those  who  know  the  poor  prisoner  describe  him  as 
an  upright  conscientious  man  and  able  physician,  who  had  long 
been  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  a  large  portion  of  the  Order,  because 
he  took  up  the  cause  of  the  patients,  and  had  endeavored  to 
check  the  peculation  of  the  convent  funds.  The  fear  that,  if  set 
at  liberty,  he  might  publish  his  experiences  of  the  proceedings 
within  the  convent  seems  to  be  one  principal  reason  of  his  perse- 
cution. The  more  weU-disposed  monks  pity  him,  but  have  no 
power  to  help.  Thus  does  the  Romish  clergy  respect  the  laws 
of  the  Empire  I 

II. 

ORAL   DEPOSITION   OF   THE   PRISONER. 

Sth  of  April,  1855. 
When  Passion  Week  was  approaching,  I  felt  myself  bound,"as 
an  EvangeHcal  Christian,  to  perform  the  devotions  belonging  to 
that  season  in  the  Protestant  Church,  as  far  as  it  might  be  possi- 
ble for  a  prisoner  to  do  so.  On  the  third  of  this  month,  therefore, 
I  besought  the  Prior,  when  he  came  to  see  me,  that  I  might  be 
permitted  to  attend  the  EvangeHcal  Church  of  the  Augsburg 
Confession  on  certain  days,  or  that,  at  least,  I  might  receive  a 
pastoral  visit  from  a  clergyman  of  that  Church.  The  Prior  an- 
swered that  I  must  apply  by  letter  to  the  Canon  Dittrich,  which 
I  did  as  follows,  word  for  word : 

"  Revebendissimb  Domine,  Dominb  Canonice, 

"  Since  the  sacred  duty  is  incumbent  on  me,  as  an  actual  member  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Church  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  to  attend  the  prescribed  services  and 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  YII.  413 

devotions  during  the  present  Holy  -vreek,  and  to  strengthen  my  soul  unto  eternal 
life  hy  receiving  the  Holy  Communion,  I  hereby  humbly  entreat  that  your 
Highness  and  Grace  may  be  pleased  graciously  to  permit  me,  either  personally 
to  attend  the  Evangelical  Church  in  this  place,  once  in  the  day,  on  Holy  Thurs- 
day, Good  Friday,  Easter  Sunday,  and  Easter  Monday ;  or,  in  case  it  should  be 
impossible  to  grant  me  this  permission,  to  allow  me  to  send  a  letter  to  one  of  the 
clergymen  of  the  same  Church,  by  any  messenger  who  may  be  appointed  me, 
asking  him  to  pay  me  a  pastoral  visit  in  my  prison ;  in  order  that  my  present 
confinement  in  the  convent  may  not  be  the  cause  of  depriving  me  wholly  of  the 
means  of  grace.  Repeating  once  more  this  my  most  earnest  entreaty,  I  subscribe 
myself,  with  the  deepest  reverence  and  submission  to  your  Highness  and  Grace, 

"JOHANN  EVANQELISTA  BOBCZYNSKI, 

'^'■Laie  Member  of  the  Order  of  Brethren  of  Mercy y 

On  the  fourth  of  this  month  the  Brother  Beda  Fickerle  came 
into  my  room  with  the  Prior,  and  brought  me  the  following 
answer,  which  was  spoken  in  an  ironical  tone : — The  Canon  sent 
word  that  he  was  glad  to  hear  that  I  wished  to  do  penance,  and 
that  I  should  be  put  on  bread  and  water,  and  assigned  another 
room,  darker  than  my  present  one,  and  provided  with  a  padlock 
as  well  as  an  ordinary  lock:  in  short  that  I  should  be  treated  like 
the  commonest  felon — ^for  he  said  my  conversion  was  a  greater 
crime  than  if  I  had  absconded  from  the  Order  with  10,000  silver 
florins.  Also,  the  Canon  said,  that  if  I  believed  myself  to  be  a 
Protestant,  I  still  should  not  give  cause  for  provocation.  So  I 
resolved  to  say  no  more  for  the  future ;  but  I  hope  that  every 
Christian  must  approve  my  desire  to  hear  the  Word  of  my  Evan- 
gelical Church,  and  receive  the  Holy  Sacrament — ^means  of  grace 
from  which  the  commonest  criminal  is  not  debarred,  while  I  was 
even  punished  for  desiring  them ;  and  the  remark  was  added, 
that  I  must  wait  until  the  Primate  of  Hungary  should  have  de- 
cided on  my  ultimate  fate.  I  ask,  what  power  has  the  Primate 
of  Hungary  over  a  Protestant  Christian  at  all,  still  less  to  inflict 
further  punishment,  with  which  I  am  constantly  threatened  ? 

You  ask  whether  I  am  lodged  with  the  priest.  Father  Joachim 
Zazule,  who  has  already  been  confined  here  twenty  years  ?  We 
are  never  permitted  to  exchange  a  word,  because  his  Protestant 
views  are  known  to  all  here.  No  one  may  visit  me — ^not  even 
my  own  brother.  My  only  companions  are  God  and  the  dark 
walls  around  me. 

LETTER  FROM   *   *   *   * 

Qth  April. 
The  prisoner  is  now  more  harshly  treated  than  ever,  because 
he  besought  the  Canon  Dittrich  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  hear 


414  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  VII. 

the  Word  of  God  and  perform  his  Easter  devotions  in  the  Evan- 
gelical Church  during  Passion  Week  and  Easter.  Should  this 
state  of  things  last  long  he  must  succumb,  if  only  on  account  of 
the  impure  and  pestilential  atmosphere  which  he  is  forced  to 
breathe.  But  this  is  not  enough.  After  the  holidays  he  is  to  be 
placed  in  an  even  worse  cell  than  the  one  he  at  present  inhabits. 
From  hints  that  have  escaped,  it  seems  they  would  rather  ill- 
treat  him,  so  that  he  should  sink  under  it,  than  suffer  him  to  be 
released.  The  cell  which  he  is  now  to  enter  is  very  dirty,  and 
full  of  the  most  horrible  exhalations.  Next  to  him  are  two  of 
the  lowest  idiots,  who  are  perishing  unconsciously  in  their  room 
in  their  own  filth.  These  poor  creatures  have  sunk  below  the 
level  of  the  brute  beasts,  but  are,  indeed,  much  to  be  pitied. 
Two  steps  from  the  door  of  the  den  into  which  he  is  to  be 
thrown  are  the  cesspools,  which  stand  open  the  whole  day. 
Thus  he  is  to  be  slowly  destroyed. 

FROM   THE   prisoner'  HIMSELF. 

Prague^  April  2bth. 
Every  hour  in  my  horrible  prison  seems  an  eternity  to  me,  and 
for  nine  weeks  already  have  I  sat  in  my  cell,  deprived  of  all  oc- 
cupation, except  prayer  and  converse  with  God.  The  decision 
of  the  Primate  of  Hungary  on  my  fate  came,  indeed,  quickly 
enough.  It  ran :  "  The  strictest  confinement,  with  days  of  pen- 
ance and  fasting — ^the  latter  to  be  Mondays,  Wednesdays  and 
Fridays,  on  bread  and  water ;  an  ascetic  priest  to  visit  the  prisoner. 
The  result  to  be  communicated  to  the  Primate."  These  means 
were  esteemed  the  most  hkely  to  succeed  in  re-converting  me. 
The  office  of  the  ascetic  priest  was  assigned  to  the  Carmehte 
Father,  Ambrosius  Kas,  and,  when  he  dechned  it,  to  the  Knight 
of  the  Cross,  Father  Hawraneck,  who  visited  me  for  the  first 
time  on  the  23d  of  April.  I  told  him  at  the  outset  that  he  must 
not  think  it  amiss  of  me  if  I  told  him,  once  for  all,  that  he  would 
only  waste  his  time  and  pains,  and  that  I  would  rather  allow 
myself  to  be  tortured  to  death  than  recant,  and  that  however 
often  he  should  come,  I  could  give  him  no  further  answer,  etc.  He 
said  nothing  this  time,  but  will  come  again.  Hardly  had  he  left 
me,  when  the  parish  priest  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
visited  me  again ;  but  departed  without  having  accomplished  his 
object,  and  will  probably  come  no  more.    My  prison  sufferings, 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  VII.  415 

it  seems,  are  not  enough — ^I  must  be  tortured  in  this  manner  too ! 
May  the  faithful  God  take  pity  on  me,  and  soon  release  me  I 

I  must  also  mention  that  I  am  writing  this  letter  by  night,  and 
in  the  greatest  danger ;  and  it  is  hardly  likely  that  I  shall  be  able 
to  write  again,  for  my  two  friends  and  servants  are  also  threatened 
with  imprisonment  if  they  help  me  to  hold  the  sUghtestcommuni-- 
cation  with  any  one.  The  persons  connected  with  the  household 
are  all  searched  when  they  enter  or  leave  the  house,  and  are  threat- 
ened with  the  loss  of  their  situations  if  they  carry  away  any  thiag 
for  me,  or  bring  me  any  thing.  From  this  you  wiU  see  that,  under 
such  circumstances,  it  will  be  scarcely  possible  to  write  to  you 
again.  Should  the  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  lead  me,  as  he  once  led 
Peter,  out  of  prison,  you  shall  have  a  circumstantial  narrative  of 
aU.  Daily,  when  I  awake,  I  wonder  whether  perhaps  that  most 
happy  day  may  not  have  dawned  on  me,  when  Grod  will  send 
his  angel  to  lead  me  out  of  my  prison.  Oh,  with  what  long- 
ing do  I  look  forward  to  a  day  that  will  be  ever  memorable 
to  me! 

In  case,  then,  that  some  time  should  elapse  without  any  letter 
from  us,  I  trust  you  will  bear  in  mind  what  has  occurred  already, 
and  will  kindly  continue  to  labor  for  my  release. 

EXTRACT   FROM   A   LETTER   BY  *   *   *    *. 

20th  May,  1855. 
Li  this  ease  the  proverb  is  exemplified  that  a  man  in  need  is 
forsaken  by  his  best  friends.  Even  those  who  were  in  favor  of 
his  conversion,  and  rejoiced  over  it,  now  say  that  it  would  be 
better  for  him  to  recant,  which,  however,  is  not  to  be  thought  of, 
for  his  convictions  are  as  firm  as  a  rock.  He  is  bitterly  tor- 
mented. The  superiors  say,  "  If  it  had  been  some  other  man, 
who  had  conducted  himself  improperly  within  the  Order,  they 
would  not  have  troubled  themselves  at  all  about  it ;  but  this  is 
not  the  case  with  Johann  Borczynski,  so  they  can  not  allow  the 
affair  to  blow  over."  This  was  said  on  the  20th  of  April  by  the 
Prior  of  the  convent  to  the  father  of  the  prisoner,  who  had  come 
to  Prague  to  see  whether  the  accounts  of  his  son's  ill-treatment, 
which  he  had  heard  from  strangers,  were  true.  The  poor  father 
was  forced  to  behold  it  for  himself  with  weeping  eyes,  when  he 
found  his  son  confined  among  idiots.  What  pain  to  a  father  to 
see  his  son  shut  up,  while  perfectly  sound  of  mind,  among  idiots! 


416  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  Vn. 

The  next  day  the  Prior  wished  to  take  the  father  to  Canon  Dit- 
trich,  that  the  latter  might  persuade  him  to  use  his  influence  to 
make  his  son  recant  But  the  old  man,  now  eighty  years  of  age, 
would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it,  and  set  off  the  same  day  for 
his  home. 

These  are  our  last  news,  since  which  we  have  heard  nothing 
of  this  steadfast  confessor  and  captive. 


Extract  from  a  Letter  of  the  Prisoner,  written  in  "The 
Prison  of  the  Order  of  the  Brethren  of  Mercjt."* 

PraguBj  June  25ih,  1855. 

My  sufferings  seem  as  far  as  ever  from  their  end,  though  I 
have  already  languished  four  months  a  captive  in  the  prison  of 
the  Order.  On  the  10th  of  June,  the  Father  Hawranek  again 
visited  me  with  the  Prior.  Both  made  me  the  bitterest  reproaches 
for  having  left  the  only  saving  Church,  and  gone  over  to  the 
"  impious  faction"  for  help.  On  the  20th  of  this  month,  an  officer 
of  police  came  to  me  with  the  Prior,  looked  round  my  room,  and 
went  away  without  having  addressed  a  single  question  to  me. 
On  the  24th,  the  Prior  came  again,  and  I  besought  him  repeat- 
edly that  I  might  be  allowed  to  write  some  medical  prescriptions 
for  myself,  that  my  health  might  not  be  entirely  neglected.  The 
Prior  answered  shortly,  that  it  could  not  be  allowed — all  the  less 
because  some  scandalous  things  about  the  Order  had  got  into  the 
newspapers.  This  they  do  not  like ;  but  to  torture  an  innocent 
man  to  death,  and  then  say,  "  Our  Almighty  God  has  punished 
Mm,"  is  quite  right  in  their  eyes ;  and  that  this  is  their  intention 
toward  me  I  can  not  but  conclude  and  assert,  from  the  treatment 
they  employ.  I  can  not  even  have  my  most  necessary  articles  of 
clothing  repaired  when  they  are  torn  without  entreating  for 
"  gracious  permission,"  although  I  pay  for  it  myself;  and  then  it 
passes  through  several  hands. 

I  have  already  been  unwell  several  times,  in  consequence  of 
their  treatment,  and  must  be  constantly  prepared  for  fresh  suffer- 
ings ;  but  I  hope  and  pray  to  God  that  He  will  put  to  shame  the 
designs  of  my  enemies. 

JOHANN  EvANQELISTA  BoROZTNSKI.     , 
•  Taken  from  the  Frankfurter  Journal  of  the  ITth  July.    Supplement. 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  VIL  417 


THE  MOST  RECENT  LEaiSLATION  OF  AUSTRIA  ON 
ECCLESIASTICAL  AFFAIRS. 

L 

Imperial  Letter  Patent  of  the  31st  October,  1851. 

In  this  Public  Letter,  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  while  repealing 
the  Constitution  of  the  4th  of  March  as  endangering  the  unity  of 
the  Empire,  and  likewise  the  so-called  Fundamental  Rights  as 
incapable  of  being  carried  into  practice,  proclaims  the  following 
as  law  for  all  the  countries  under  his  crown : 

"  We  nevertheless  expressly  declare,  that  we  will  uphold  and 
protect  every  church  or  religious  body  recognized  by  law,  in  the 
exercise  of  its  rights;  first,  of  common  ptihlic  rehgious  worship; 
secondly,  of  the  independent  regulation  of  its  own  affairs ;  thirdly, 
of  the  possession  and  enjoyment  of  the  institutions,  foundations, 
and  funds  appropriated  to  its  special  worship,  and  works  of  in- 
struction and  benevolence ;  such  institutions  remaining  as  here- 
tofore subject  to  the  general  laws  of  the  State." 

II. 
Provisional  ordinances  on  ecclesiastical  affairs,  decreed  on 
the  30th  of  January,  1849,  prior  to  the  Constitution 
which  has  since  been  repealed. 

I.  The  members  of  the  allied  Protestant  Confessions  in  Austria, 
who  have  hitherto  been  comprised  under  the  term  of  non-Cath- 
ohcs,  are  henceforward  to  be  designated,  in  all  official  documents, 
as  "  Evangelicals  of  the  Augsburg,  or  Evangelicals  of  the  Hel- 
vetic Confession." 

II.  Conversion  from  one  Christian  Confession  to  another  is  free 
and  open  to  every  person  who  has  passed  his  eighteenth  year, 
under  the  observance  of  the  following  regulations : — The  intend- 
ing convert  is  bound  to  announce  his  purpose  to  the  pastor  of  the 
congregation  to  which  he  has  hitherto  belonged,  in  the  presence 
of  two  witnesses,  chosen  by  himself;  and,  at  the  end  of  four 
weeks,  to  make  another  declaration  to  the  pastor  of  the  same 

18* 


>^; 


418  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  VIL 

congregation,  in  the  presence  of  the  same  or  other  two  witnesses, 
also  chosen  by  himself,  that  he  abides  by  the  same  intention.  The 
pastor  is  bound  to  give  the  intending  convert  a  certificate  of  each 
of  these  declarations.  Should  the  certificate  be  refused  on  any 
ground  whatsoever,  the  witnesses  are  empowered  to  furnish  it. 
These  two  certificates  are  to  be  shown  by  the  convert  to  the  pas- 
tor of  the  congregation  which  he  wishes  to  join ;  whereby  the 
act  of  transition  is  completed.  All  previous  regulations  with  re- 
gard to  change  of  confession,  are  declared  void. 

III.  Registers  of  the  ecclesiastical  acts  performed  by  them  on 
occasion  of  births,  marriages,  and  deaths,  shall  be  kept  by  the 
pastors  of  all  EvangeHcal  congregations  of  the  Augsburg  and 
Helvetic  Confessions,  and  extracts  from  these  registers,  made 
under  their  supei-vision,  shall  possess  the  same  legal  validity 
which  is  given  to  those  of  Catholic  pastors. 

rV.  Surplice  fees,  and  other  dues,  whether  of  money  or 
natural  products,  paid  for  clerical  ofl&ces  by  Evangelicals  of  the 
Augsburg  and  Helvetic  Confessions  to  the  Catholic  clergy,  are 
abolished ;  except  where  they  are  demanded  for  clerical  offices 
actually  performed  by  Catholic  pastors,  or  when  they  are  taxes 
in  kind  charged  on  real  property.  The  same  is  enacted  of  all  fees 
due  to  the  sacristan. 

V,  The  fees  paid  in  many  places  by  Evangelicals  of  the  Augs- 
burg and  Helvetic  Confessions  to  Catholic  schoolmasters  shall 
cease,  wherever  the  Evangelicals  have  their  own  schools,  and  do 
not  send  their  children  to  Catholic  schools. 

VI.  In  case  of  marriages  between  non-Catholic  Christians,  the 
banns  shall  be  pubHshed  only  in  the  public  assembly  for  religious 
worship  of  the  betrothed  parties ;  in  case  of  marriages  between 
Catholics  and  non-Catholics,  the  banns  shall  be  published  in  the 
respective  churches  of  each  party;  and  schedule  71  of  the  civil 
code  on  this  point  is  hereby  repealed. 


D. 

REPORT   OP   THE   RECENT   PERSECUTION    OF  A 
PROTESTANT  FATHER  IN  FRANCE. 

A  very  estimable  officer  of  the  French  army,  in  actual  service, 
Captain  Gt ,  was  declared,  by  the  decision  of  a  family  council, 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  VIL  419 

nnworthy  longer  to  liave  the  legal  guardiansliip  of  his  two  chil- 
dren, who  were  minors,  being  six  and  eight  years  of  age.  The 
same  council  also  determined  to  withdraw  the  children  from  the 
care  of  their  father,  and  intrust  them  to  that  of  another  guardian. 
The  father  refused  to  yield  obedience  to  these  violent  measures. 
In  order  to  force  him  to  surrender  his  authority  over  his  children, 

the  family  council  summoned  Captain  Gr before  the  civil 

court  of  the  city  of  Orleans,  the  seat  of  the  guardianship.  Here 
is  the  official  copy  of  this  legal  summons  literally  given : 

"  In  virtue  of  Article  444  of  the  Codex  Napoleon ;  and  whereas,  according  to 
the  express  words  of  the  same  article,  those  persons  are  excluded  from  the  office 
of  guardian,  or  may  be  deposed  from  the  exercise  thereof,  whose  management 
testifies  unfaithfulness  or  incapacity ; 

"  Whereas  the  word  management  applies  to  the  moral  as  well  as  to  the  material 
Interests  of  the  wards;  so  that  an  incapacity  takes  place  on  the  part  of  the 
guardian,  when  he  is  unable  to  conduct  or  watch  over  the  education  of  the  chil- 
dren, or  when  he  conducts  it  in  a  manner  prejudicial  to  their  moral  interests; 
which  circumstances  exist  in  the  present  case ; 

"Whereas  Captain  G ,  after  having  hitherto  educated  his  children  in  the 

Catholic  Church,  has  now  the  full  purpose  to  give  their  religious  education 
another  tendency,  according  to  the  principles  of  the  Protestant  Confession ; 

"Whereas  the  deceased  mother  of  these  minors  belonged  to  the  Catholic 
religion,  which  is  also  that  of  the  whole  family,  and  the  change  of  religion  pur- 
posed by  Captain  G — — ,  will  dishonor  the  memory  of  the  mother,  and  separate 
the  children  from  their  family,  and  constitutes,  moreover,  an  interference  with 
the  consciences  of  the  children,  which  is  an  abuse  of  the  paternal  authority," 
etc.,  etc 

The  family  council  which  came  to  this  resolution  took  place  on 
the  4th  of  August ;  and  the  father  is  summoned  to  appear  on  the 
27th.  To  fiimish  a  pretext  for  this  haste,  it  is  stated  in  the  smn- 
mons,  "  that  it  is  imperative  for  the  welfare  of  the  children  to 
obtain  the  legal  confirmation  of  the  family  decision,  in  order  that 
they  may  be  withdrawn  as  soon  as  possible  from  the  new  relig- 
ious tendency  which  has  already  begun  to  be  given  to  their 
education." 

The  facts  of  the  case  are  as  follows : 

Four  years  ago  the  first  wife  of  Captain  G ,  the  mother  of 

the  children  in  question,  died  after  a  marriage  of  five  years.  Five 
years  ago  a  pastor  of  Alsace  gave  Captain  G a  New  Testa- 
ment, and  made  those  first  impressions  on  his  mind  which  deter- 
mined him,  two  years  later,  to  withdraw  from  the  Roman 
Catholic  and  attach  himself  to  the  Protestant  Church.  His  two 
children  at  that  time  were — the  one  five,  the  other  three  years 


420  APPENDIX  TO  LETTEB  VIL 

old.  By  this  we  may  judge  of  the  value  of  that  assertion  of  the 
family  council,  "  that  an  interference  had  taken  place  with  the 
consciences  of  the  children  which  constituted  an  abuse  of  the 
paternal  authority." 

The  father  acts  upon  his  rights  from  conscientious  motives. 
He  is  no  longer  a  member  of  the  Komish  Church,  but  professes 
the  Evangehcal  doctrines  of  the  Augsburg  Confession ;  and  as 
such  has  contracted,  eight  months  ago,  a  second  marriage  with  a 
pious  and  estimable  Protestant  lady.  He  Hves  at  home  in  accord- 
ance with  his  religious  profession,  with  the  young  children  given 
him  by  God,  and  provides  for  their  education  in  virtue  of  the 
paternal  rights  recognized  by  the  State.  But  because  he  does  so 
— ^because  he  acts  as  every  conscientious  head  of  a  family  must 
do — ^he  is  to  be  declared  by  a  court  of  justice  to  have  forfeited 
his  paternal  rights,  as  much  as  though  he  had  committed  a  breach 
of  trust,  or  were  a  lunatic,  incapable  of  possessing  legal  rights ; 
he  is  to  be  pronounced  unworthy  to  educate  his  own  children  1 

This  is  the  case  as  it  stands  at  present.  How  far  is  it  from 
such  a  case  to  the  murder  of  Jean  Calas  ?  This  attack  on  Captain 
G threatens  every  father  of  a  family  in  France. 

The  celebrated  jurisconsult,  M.  Bethmont,  the  President  of  the 
Society  of  Advocates,  has  undertaken  to  conduct  the  defense  of 
the  father.  As,  however,  the  ill-health  of  the  latter  has  obliged 
him  to  visit  the  baths,  he  has  petitioned  for  a  delay,  which  has 
been  accorded.  This  case  will,  therefore,  come  under  discussion 
after  the  autumn  vacation.  It  has  excited  a  great  sensation,  and 
throughout  France  all  the  fathers  of  families,  whatever  may  be 
their  religious  views,  who  are  earnestly  intent  on  preserving  their 
duties  and  rights,  and  especially  all  Protestant  believers,  are 
awaiting  the  issue  of  the  transaction  in  the  most  anxious  suspense. 
The  latter  rely  on  the  justice  of  the  courts  of  law,  but  they  see 
clearly  how  far  the  aims  of  a  certain  number  among  the  antagon- 
ists of  their  Church  would  carry  them. 

The  first  question  which  arises  on  such  a  manifestation  of  that 
spirit  which  led  to  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  but  whose 
re-appearance  had  seemed  impossible  since  1789  and  !^apoleon, 
is  this —  WiU  any  court  in  France  declare  itself  competent  to  enter- 
tain such  a  question  P 

(Compare,  with  regard  to  this  unprecedented  attack,  the 
article  by  M.  Sylvestre  de  Sacy  in  the  Journal  des  Dthats.) 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  YIIL 


THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  MAGNA  CHARTA  OF  PRUSSIA, 
OR  THE  ARTICLES  OF  THE  PRUSSIAN  CONSTITU- 
TION OF  THE  31sT  OF  JANUARY,  1850,  TOUCHING 
ECCLESIASTICAL  AFFAIRS. 

ARTICLE    Xn. 

The  liberty  of  religious  confession,  and  of  union  in  religious 
societies,  or  of  social  worship,  domestic  and  public,  is  guarantied. 
The  enjoyment  of  civil  and  political  rights  is  independent  of 
reUgious  creed.  No  damage  shall  accrue  to  the  civil  and  political 
rights  of  any  individual  from  the  exercise  of  religious  liberty.     - 

ARTICLE  xm. 

Those  reUgious  societies  or  clerical  bodies  which  have  no  cor- 
porate rights,  can  obtain  such  rights  only  by  means  of  special 
laws. 

ARTICLE  xrv. 

The  Christian  religion  is  made  the  basis  of  those  regulations 
of  the  State  which  are  connected  with  the  exercise  of  religion, 
without  prejudice  to  the  religious  liberty  guarantied  in  Article  XII. 

ARTICLE    XV. 

The  Evangelical  and  the  Roman  Catholic  Churches,  together 
with  every  other  religious  society,  regulate  and  administer  their 
affairs  for  themselves,  and  remain  in  the  possession  and  enjoy- 
ment of  the  institutions,  foundations,  and  funds,  destined  for  the 
maintenance  of  their  worship,  schools,  and  works  of  charity. 


422  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  VHI. 

ARTICLE  XVI. 

The  intercourse  of  religious  societies  with  their  superiors  is  un- 
restricted. The  publication  of  ecclesiastical  ordinances  is  subject 
only  to  the  same  restrictions  as  all  other  pubUc  announcements. 

ARTICLE  xvn. 

With  regard  to  Church  patronage,  and  the  conditions  under 
which  it  may  be  abrogated,  a  special  law  shall  be  issued. 

ARTICLE  xvm. 

In  appointments  to  ecclesiastical  offices,  the  right  of  nomination, 
proposal,  election,  and  confirmation,  in  so  far  as  it  appertains  to 
the  State,  and  not  to  private  patrons  on  special  legal  titles,  is 
abolished.  From  the  provisions  of  this  regulation  are  excepted 
the  clerical  appointments  to  the  army  and  public  institutions. 

ARTICLE  XIX. 

The  introduction  of  civil  marriage  will  take  place  in  accordance 
with  the  provisions  of  a  special  law,  which  will  also  regulate  the 
mode  of  civil  registration  in  general. 


APPENDIX    TO    LETTER    IX. 


EXTRACT  FROM  THE  TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  EVAN- 
GELICAL KIRCHENTAQ  HELD  IN  BERLIN  IN"  SEP- 
TEMBER, 1853. 

Second  Sitting  of  the  21st  September.  President,  Professor  Stahlj 
Member  of  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council. 

On  the  conduct  of  the  Church  toward  dissent  and  sec- 
tarianism, ESPECIALLY  WITH  REFERENCE  TO  THE  BAPTISTS  AND 

Methodists. 

The  gentleman  appointed  to  draw  up  a  report  on  this  subject^ 
Dr.  Snethlage,  Member  of  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council, 
sums  up  his  view  in  the  following  five  theses : 

"  I.  The  Church  ought  to  have  neither  the  will  nor  the  power 
to  coerce  or  oppress,  by  external  means,  separatists  and 
sectarians  who,  on  any  pretext  of  hberty  or  purity,  take 
offense  at  her,  and  reject  or  regard  as  indifferent  either 
one  or  all  the  means  of  grace,  all  the  ordinances  of  the 
Church,  or  merely  the  regular  ofllce  of  the  ministry. 
"  11.  So  long  as  a  separation  is  only  impending,  or  a  sect  only 
in  embryo,  or  so  long  as  merely  individual  members  of 
the  Church  betray  a  leaning  toward  the  leaders  or  propa- 
gators of  such  sects,  or,  perhaps,  also  attend  their  meet- 
ings, no  steps  are  to  be  taken  except  in  the  way  of 
pastoral  care,  of  special  pastoral  visits,  instruction,  and 
testimony;  but  if  circumstances  require,  it  will  also  be 
right  repeatedly  to  draw  the  attention  of  the  congregation 
at  large  to  the  danger  menacing  them,  and  to  warn  them 
against  the  seductions  of  error. 


424  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  IX. 

"  III.  A  different  course  is  to  be  pursued  toward  the  families 
and  persons  belonging  to  schisms  which  have  definitely 
taken  place,  and  sects  which  have  assumed  an  independ- 
ent existence. 

"They  are  not  indeed  to  be  forsaken  temporally  or 
spiritually  in  their  distresses,  nor  are  their  petitions  to  be 
utterly  disregarded ;  but  the  Church  must  give  them  to 
feel  that  by  their  acts  they  have  forfeited  the  right  to 
brotherly  communion  on  equal  terms,  so  that  it  is  necessary 
and  right,  even  for  their  own  sakes,  to  deny  them  the 
blessings  and  privileges  of  the  Church,  should  they  never- 
theless for  any  reason  lay  claim  to  them,  so  long  as  they 
continue  to  deny  her  authority. 

"  lY.  Whoever,  therefore,  from  declared  sectarianism,  should 
withdraw  his  children  from  catechetical  instruction  in  the 
Church,  can  lay  no  claim  to  have  them  confirmed  in  the 
Church.  He  who  rejects  infant  baptism  can  not  reckon 
himself  as  one  of  her  communicants.  He  who  does  not 
choose  to  belong  to  her  communicants,  nor  to  recognize 
the  authority  of  her  ministers,  can  not  claim  from  her  the 
rites  of  marriage  and  Christian  burial.  Least  of  all,  can  it 
be  allowed  that  a  clergyman  or  schoolmaster,  a  sacristan, 
a  precentor,  an  organist,  should  continue  to  retain  and  ex- 
ercise his  ofl&ce  after  he  has  joined  a  schism  or  a  sect. 

"  V.  But,  above  all,  the  true  and  effectual  counteraction  to  dis- 
sent and  sectarianism  wiU  consist  in  the  endeavor  of  the 
Church  to  satisfy,  by  suitable  means,  the  profound  need 
of  the  human  heart  for  Christian  communion  and  fellow- 
ship, and  for  the  mutual  co-operation  of  the  Uving  mem- 
bers of  the  Congregation;  and  in  her  making  it  her  object 
to  turn  to  the  greatest  possible  advantage  their  many 
powers  and  gifts  to  the  edification  of  the  community. 
For  it  is  especially  in  these  points  that  the  power  and  at- 
tractiveness of  the  minor  sects  consist" 

Dr.  Sack,  of  Magdeburg,  a  Consistorial  Counselor,  remarks  on 
the  fourth  thesis  of  the  Report :  "  Hence  the  Baptist  party, 
whom  we  can  not  call  sectarian,  although  they,  erroneously  as  we 
beheve,  reject  infant  baptism,  ought  not  to  be  excluded  fix)m  the 
Lord's  Table  in  our  Churches." 

Professor  Lange,  from  Zurich  (now  of  Bonn),  wished  to  make 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  IX.  426 

the  following  addition  to  the  theses :  "  The  sects  are  a  sign  of 
some  definite  malady  in  the  body  of  the  Church,  and  of  the  cor- 
responding curative  impulse." 

Greneral-Supermtendent  Bdchsal,  of  Berlin,  agrees  with  this 
view,  and  says  :  "  There  exists  one  means  for  the  clergy  to  avert 
dissent ;  go  into  thy  closet  and  fulfill  the  duties  of  thy  ofl&ce  more 
zealously  than  heretofore.  This  is  the  only  course  which  can  be 
advised." 

Bishop  von  KapjQF  (from  Stutgardt)  declares  himself  all  the 
more  entirely  in  accordance  with  the  theses  of  the  Keport,  as 
they  have  been  carried  into  practice  with  good  effect  in  his  native 
country  of  Wurtemberg.  All  that  the  Report  desires  has  been 
already,  for  a  considerable  time,  carried  out  in  practice  there ; 
and  experience  has  proved  that  the  numerous  meetings  held,  and 
societies  existing  in  that  country,  are  the  safety-valves  which 
avert  dissent  Further,  it  has  been  everywhere  found  in  Wml;- 
emberg  that  kind  and  brotherly  treatment,  and  Christian  inter- 
course, have  the  effect  of  bringing  back  schismatics  to  the 
Church ;  while  harsh  treatment  has  led  to  their  separating  them- 
selves altogether  from  her  communion. 

Upon  this  the  President,  Dr.  Stahl,  says,  that  no  dissentient 
voice  had  been  raised  against  the  theses  of  the  Report.  The 
proposal  of  two  of  the  speakers,  "  that  Baptists,  i.  e.,  those  who 
reject  infant  baptism,  ought  not  to  be  refused  admission  to  the 
Lord's  Supper  if  they  desire  it,  and  are  separated  from  those  of 
their  own  denomination,"  was  liable  to  the  following  grave  objec- 
tion :  "  Did  it  become  the  evangelical  Church  to  enter  into  the 
closest  bond  of  Christian  fellowship,  by  partaking  of  the  com- 
munion with  those  who  in  such  a  glaring  manner  rejected  her 
doctrine  ?" 

With  regard  to  the  theses  themselves,  the  President  added : 

"  I  must,  for  my  own  part,  beg  you  to  observe  further,  that 
there  is  one  aspect  of  the  matter  which  has  not  been  exhausted 
by  the  Report ;  namely,  the  question  of  coercive  measures. 
The  reporter  says,  very  justly,  that  the  Church  can  not  compel 
any  to  remain  within  her  pale,  and  that  it  must  he  left  to  the  State 
to  decide  whether  or  not  to  tbse  constraint  where  its  own  order  and 
laws  may  require  it.  But  he  overlooks  a  third  aspect,  in  which 
the  question  may  present  itself— whether  it  is  not  the  business 
of  the  State  to  resort  to  measures  of  coercion,  not  for  the  sake 


426  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  IX. 

of  its  own  order,  but  for  the  protection  of  the  Church.  If  a 
Christian  governor  turns  to  the  Evangelical  Church  and  says — *  I 
demand  from  thee  a  decision;  thou  must  derive  it  from  the 
Word  of  Grod  and  the  depths  of  thy  own  religious  knowledge. 
Shall  I  do  nothing  whatever  for  thy  protection  ?  Of  course  it  is 
understood  that  I  constrain  no  one  by  violence  or  force  of  arms 
to  remain  in  the  Church.  But  shall  I  allow  sects  of  this  kind  to 
lead  away  thy  members  into  apostacy  by  colporteurs  and  similar 
agencies  ?  Shall  I  allow  that  even  from  foreign  countries  mis- 
sionaries shall  be  sent  out  to  plant  sectarianism  in  thy  very  midst  ? 
Shall  I  thus  allow  all  persons  indiscriminately  to  exert  intellectual 
influence  upon  each  other  unimpeded,  or  shall  I  recognize  that 
the  Church  of  whose  rightful  claims  I  have  the  certainty  is  com- 
mitted to  my  hands  for  external  protection  ?  I  will  make  no  de- 
cision on  this  point,  for  opposite  views  are  possible.'  I  have  only 
made  these  few  remarks  lest  it  should  appear  as  if  the  question  of 
the  relation  of  the  State  to  the  Church  were  entirely  exhausted  and 
set  at  rest  hy  the  declaration,  that  the  Church  can  not  apply  any 
means  of  coercion ;  and  hence  the  Kirchentag  should  seem  to  have 
declared  against  aU  protective  measures  on  the  part  of  the  civil 
power.  I  perfectly  concur  with  the  gentleman  who  has  brought 
up  the  Report,  that  the  Church  must  bethink  herself  seven  times 
before  she  petitions  the  State  to  make  use  of  any  external  force 
for  her  protection." 


APPENDIX   TO    LETTER.  X. 


LEGAL  DOCUMENTS  AFFECTINa  THE  TJKION. 


Royal  Cabinet  Order  of  the  27th  of  September,  1817. 

My  illustrious  forefathers,  now  resting  in  Grod,  the  Elector 
John  Sigismundj  the  Elector  George  William,  the  Great  Elector 
King  Frederic  I.,  and  King  Frederic  William  I.,  have  with  pious 
solicitude,  as  is  proved  by  the  history  of  their  reigns,  bestowed 
their  earnest  attention  on  the  subject  of  uniting  the  two  separate 
Protestant  Churches,  the  Reformed  and  the  Lutheran,  into  one 
Evangelical  and  Christian  Church  throughout  their  dominions. 
Honoring  their  memory  and  their  wholesome  purpose,  I  gladly 
follow  in  their  footsteps,  and  desire  that  a  work  so  well-pleasing 
to  God,  but  which  encountered  insuperable  difficulties  in  their 
days  from  the  unhappy  sectarian  spirit  then  prevailing,  may  be 
brought  to  pass  in  my  States,  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  wel- 
fare of  the  Christian  Church,  under  the  influence  of  a  better 
spirit,  which  looks  not  to  non-essential  points,  and  cleaves  to 
those  main  truths  of  Christianity  in  which  both  Confessions  are 
agreed ;  and  I  further  desire  to  see  the  first  steps  taken  to  this 
good  work,  on  occasion  of  the  approaching  Tricentenary  of  the 
Reformation.  Such  a  truly  religious  union  of  the  two  Prot- 
estant Churches,  now  only  divided  by  outward  differences,  is  in 
harmony  with  the  great  objects  of  Christianity ;  it  corresponds 
to  the  earliest  views  of  the  Reformers ;  it  is  inherent  in  the  spirit 
of  Protestantism ;  it  promotes  a  religious  spirit ;  it  aids  domestic 


428  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  X. 

piety ;  it  will  become  tlie  source  of  many  desirable  reforms  in 
Church  and  school,  which  have  been  hitherto  prevented  only  by 
the  difference  of  the  Confessions. 

Such  a  union,  long  desired  and  now  called  for  more  loudly  than 
ever,  yet  which  has  been  so  often  attempted  in  vain — a  union 
in  which  the  Keformed  Church  shall  not  go  over  to  the  Lutheran, 
nor  vice  versa,  but  both  shall  form  a  revivified  Evangelical  Chris- 
tian Church  in  the  spirit  of  their  holy  Founder — ^wiU  encounter 
no  insuperable  obstacle,  if  only  both  parties  earnestly  and  sincerely 
come  to  desire  it  in  a  truly  Christian  spirit.  If  really  the  offspring 
of  such  a  spirit,  it  would  be  a  worthy  expression  of  our  thank- 
fulness to  Divine  Providence  for  the  invaluable  blessing  of 
the  Reformation,  and  a  suitable  mode  of  honoring  in  act  the 
memory  of  its  great  founders,  by  continuing  their  immortal 
work. 

But  while  I  can  not  but  earnestly  wish  that  the  Reformed  and 
Lutheran  Churches  in  my  dominions  may  share  this,  my  well- 
considered  conviction — esteeming,  as  I  do,  their  rights  and  liber- 
ties, I  am  far  from  desiring  to  press  it  upon  them,  or  to  make  any 
regulations  or  determinations  in  this  matter.  For  a  union  will 
only  possess  a  real  value  if  it  be  not  the  product  of  persuasion 
or  indifferentism ;  and  if  it  be  a  union,  not  merely  in  outward 
form,  but  having  its  roots  and  vital  energy  in  the  oneness  of 
hearts,  in  harmony  with  genuine  scriptural  principles. 

In  this  spirit,  I  therefore  propose  to  celebrate  the  Tricentenary 
of  the  Reformation,  by  uniting  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Con- 
gregations of  the  Court  and  garrison  of  Potsdam  into  one  Evan- 
geUcal  Christian  Church,  and  partaking  with  them  of  the  Holy 
Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper ;  and  I  hope  that  this,  my  own 
example,  may  have  a  salutary  effect  upon  all  the  Protestant  con- 
gregations in  my  land,  and  find  universal  imitation  in  spirit  and 
in  truth.  To  the  wise  guidance  of  the  Consistories — ^to  the  pious 
zeal  of  the  clergy  and  their  Synods — I  leave  the  outward  form 
of  the  agreement  to  be  entered  into,  assured  that  the  congrega- 
tion will  willingly  follow  their  proper  leaders ;  and  that,  above 
all,  wherever  the  eye  is  directed  in  earnestness  and  sincerity, 
and  clear  from  all  interested  views,  to  what  is  essential,  and  to 
the  great  and  holy  cause  itself,  a  form  will  readily  be  found,  and 
thus  the  outward  shape  will  spontaneously  spring  forth  from  the 
inward  essence,  and  assume  a  simple  and  dignified  aspect.    May 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  X.  429 

that  promised  era  not  be  far  distant,  when  all  shall  be  gathered 
under  one  shepherd  into  one  fold,  with  one  faith,  one  hope,  one 
love. 

Frederic  William. 


B. 

The  Cabinet  Order  of  ms  Majesty  the  King,  touching  the 

ESSENCE   AND    OBJECT   OF   THE   UnION   AND    THE   LiTURGY. 

It  can  not  but  excite  my  just  displeasure  that  the  attempt  has 
been  made  by  some  enemies  of  the  peace  of  our  Church,  to  mis- 
lead others  by  the  misconceptions  and  incorrect  views  into  which 
they  themselves  have  fallen,  with  regard  to  tiie  essence  and  ob- 
ject of  the  Union  and  the  Liturgy.  It  certainly  may  be  hoped 
that  the  power  of  truth,  and  the  sound  judgment  of  the  multitude 
of  well-informed  persons,  wiU  prevent  this  mischievous  attempt 
from  meeting  with  any  general  success,  and  that  your  scrupulous 
fulfillment  of  the  commands  which  I  have  issued  in  my  Cabinet 
Order  of  this  day,  touching  the  suppression  of  separatistic  ir- 
regularities, will'  result  in  bringing  back  from  their  errors  the  few 
who  have  allowed  themselves  to  be  deceived  by  false  representa- 
tions. In  order,  however,  to  assist  those  whose  objections  arise 
from  scruples  of  conscience  to  form  a  correct  judgment  on  the 
subject  in  question,  it  will  be  advisable  to  exhibit  in  their  con- 
nection the  main  principles,  in  accordance  with  which  I  have  on 
repeated  occasions  enjoined  you  to  promote  the  introduction  of 
the  Liturgy  and  the  spread  of  the  Union. 

The  Union  does  not  signify  or  aim  at  any  surrender  of  the 
existing  Confessions  of  Faith,  nor  does  it  derogate  from  the 
authority  they  have  hitherto  possessed.  In  acceding  to  the 
Union,  nothing  is  expressed  but  that  spirit  of  charity  and  mod- 
eration which  refuses  to  allow  that  the  differences  on  certain 
dogmatical  points  are  a  sufficient  ground  for  denying  to  the 
members  of  another  Confession  external  Church-fellowship.  The 
joining  the  Union  is  a  matter  of  free  choice ;  and  the  opinion  is 
therefore  erroneous,  that  the  introduction  of  the  new  Liturgy  is 
necessarily  connected  therewith,  or  indirectly  aims  at  that  end. 


430  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  X. 

The  latter  rests  on  orders  given  by  me ;  the  former,  as  has  been 
said,  is  a  matter  left  to  the  voluntary  decision  of  each  person. 
The  Liturgy  is  only  so  far  connected  with  the  Union,  that  the 
order  of  Divine  Service  prescribed  in  it,  and  the  formularies  set 
forth  for  the  dififerent  rites  of  religion,  inasmuch  as  they  are 
according  to  Scripture,  may  be  used  to  the  common  furthering 
of  Christian  piety  and  fear  of  God  in  those  congregations  which 
are  composed  of  members  of  both  Confessions,  without  causing 
offense  and  objection.  Further,  the  Liturgy  is  by  no  means 
intended  as  a  substitute  for  the  Confessions  of  Faith  in  the 
Evangelical  Church,  nor  yet  to  be  added  to  these  as  of  like 
nature.  Its  sole  object  is  to  provide  against  aU  injurious  hcense 
and  confusion,  and  to  establish  an  order  for  public  worship  and 
the  ofl&cial  acts  of  the  clergy  which  shall  be  in  accordance  with 
the  spirit  of  the  Symbolical  Books,  and  is  based  on  the  authority 
of  the  Evangehcal  Liturgies  of  the  first  period  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. Consequently  the  prayer  of  those  who,  from  dislike  to  the 
Union,  also  resist  the  introduction  of  the  Liturgy,  is  to  be  rejected 
most  earnestly  and  decidedly  as  one  that  can  not  be  entertained. 
Even  m  those  Churches  which  have  not  joined  the  Union,  the 
use  of  the  national  Liturgy  must  take  place,  with  the  modifications 
allowed  to  each  province  in  particular.  Least  of  all,  however, 
because  it  would  be  most  unchristian,  can  it  be  permitted  to  tlie 
enemies  of  the  Union,  in  contradistinction  to  its  friends,  to  con- 
stitute themselves  as  a  separate  religious  body.  I  commission  you 
to  make  this  Edict  pubhc,  by  means  of  the  government  gazettes. 
(Signed)  Frederic.  William. 

To  the  Minister  of  State,  Baron  von  Altenstein.* 
Ba-lin,  the  28th  of  February,  1834. 


c. 

Cabinet  Order  of  the  6th  of  March,  1852. 

From  the  memorial  handed  in  to  me  with  the  report  of-  the 
19th  December  last,  I  perceive  that  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical 
Council  of  the  Evangelical  Church  has  understood  the  official 

*  See  Annals  of  the  Internal  Administration  of  Prussia.  Edited  by  K.  A. 
Ton  Kamptz,  yoL  xyiiL,  for  1834,  p.  74. 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  X.  431 

duties  imposed  on  the  ecclesiastical  courts  as  regards  the  ques- 
tions of  Union  and  Confession  in  the  sense  and  spirit  of  that 
fidelity  to  the  Confessions  which  guided  his  late  Majesty,  my 
father,  now  resting  with  God,  when,  according  to  the  views 
expressed  in  his  Cabinet  Orders  of  the  27th  of  September,  1817 
and  28th  of  February,  1834,  he  endeavored  to  accomplish  that 
highly  important  work  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church — 
the  Union.     It  is  indubitably  clear,  both  from  the  above-men- 
tioned manifestoes,  and  from  what  he  repeatedly  expressed  to 
myself,  that  he  never  designed  the  Union  to  effect  a  transition  from 
one  Confession  to  another,  stiU  less  the  formation  of  a  third  new 
Confession,  but  was  simply  actuated  by  the  wish  to  unite  both 
Confessions  into  one  National  Church,  to  break  down  the  lament- 
able barriers  which  had  hitherto  prevented  the  union  of  the 
members  of  both  Confessions  around  the  table  of  the  Lord,  for 
all  those  who  in  the  living  sense  of  their  communion  in  Christ 
longed  for  this  outward  fellowship.      If  the  rules  of  Church 
government  dictated  by  those  views  have,  in  course  of  time, 
been 'frequently  misconceived  and  misunderstood  by  the  adminis- 
trating functionaries,  it  affords  me  particular  gratification  on  this 
occasion  to  express  my  sense  that  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical 
Council,  fi:om  the  time  of  their  entrance  on  their  onerous  duties, 
have  ever  made  it  their  earnest  endeavor  to  enhghten  the  pubUc 
mind  with  regard  to  the  Union,  and  to  set  the  questions  con- 
nected therewith  in  their  true  light.     I,  however,  judge  that  it  is 
now  due  time  to  give  these  principles  a  definite  expression  in  the 
organization  of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  which  shall,  more- 
over, serve  as  a  rule  of  action  to  the  latter,  and  by  this  act  to  give 
a  pledge  that  in  the  government  of  the  National  Evangelical 
Church  there  shall  be  an  equal  regard  paid  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  fellowship  subsisting  by  God's  grace  between  the  two 
Confessions  in  the  Union,  and  to  the  independence  of  each  of  the 
two  Confessions.     Conformably  to  which,  I  hereby  give  my  royal 
sanction  to  the  following  principles  laid  before  me  by  the  Evan- 
gelical Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council. 

I.  The  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  is  charged  with  the 
duty  of  representing  the  Evangelical  National  Church  in  its  col- 
lective character  and  administering  its  affairs,  and  at  the  same 
time  witii  that  of  watching  over  and  defending  the  rights  of  the 
separate  Confessions  and  the  regulations  based  upon  those  rights. 


432  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  X. 

n.  The  Evangelical  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council  con- 
sists of  members  of  both  Confessions ;  but  none  are  eligible  to  be 
appointed  members  thereof,  except  such  persons  as  conscientiously 
approve  of  the  _co-operation  of  members  of  the  two  Confessions 
in  the  government  of  the  Church. 

III.  In  all  matters  brought  before  it  for  decision,  the  Supreme 
Ecclesiastical  Council  passes  resolutions  by  a  vote  of  the  ma- 
jority of  its  members.  But  if  the  matter  l)rought  before  it  be  of 
such  a  nature  that  its  decision  affects  only  one  of  the  two  Con- 
fessions, the  previous  confessional  question  shall  not  be  decided 
by  the  collective  votes  of  the  members,  but  only  by  the  votes  of 
the  members  belonging  to  the  Confession  in  question,  and  this 
decision  shall  form  the  basis  of  the  collective  resolution  of  the 
Board.  This  is  the  mode  of  procedure  to  be  observed  in  the 
measures  passed  relating  to  the  matter  in  question. 

I,  accordingly,  hereby  commission  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical 
Council  for  the  fiiture  to  guide  their  conduct  in  accordance  with 
these  principles,  and  to  communicate  this  my  Edict  to  the  Pro- 
vincial Consistories  for  their  observance  also,  and  further  to  pre- 
pare, in  concert  with  my  Minister  for  Ecclesiastical  Affairs,  a  set 
of  instructions  by  which  their  proceedings  shall  be  regulated, 
which  instructions  are  to  be  laid  before  me  for  my  royal  sane  • 
tion. 

(Signed)         Frederic  William. 

Charlottenburg,  6th  March,  1852. 


D. 

Cabinet  Order  oi*  the  12th  of  July,  1853. 

On  reading  the  report  presented  by  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical 
Council  on  the  4th  of  November  of  this  year,  I  concur  witli  the 
views  therein  expressed,  that  for  the  prevention  of  any  further 
fi:uitless  disputes  concerning  principles,  it  is  advisable  to  issue  no 
further  explanations  of  a  general  nature  with  regard  to  the  vari- 
ous and  often  contradictory  misconceptions  which  have  attached 
themselves  to  my  Edict  of  March  the  6th,  1852,  but  in  all  in- 
stances to  attend  only  to  complaints  and  suggestions  referring  to 


A?PENDIX  TO  LETTER  X.  433 

particular  and  actual  cases.  I,  nevertheless,  take  occasion  from 
this  Report  to  make  the  following  declaration  to  the  Supreme 
Ecclesiastical  Council.  It  has  excited  my  just  displeasure  that, 
as  I  gather  from  the  document  laid  before  me,  my  Edict  of  the 
6th  of  March,  1852,  has  been  perverted  in  various  inadmissible 
ways,  and  in  particular  that  many  clergymen,  identifying  their 
subjective  point  of  view  with  that  of  the  flock  intrusted  to  them, 
and  imputing  to  the  latter  their  own  personal  views,  have  dis- 
turbed people's  minds  by  exciting  the  fear  of  dangers  to  be  ap- 
prehended on  the  one  side  for  the  Confessions,  or  on  the  other 
for  the  Union.  Although  it  was  certainly  the  object  of  my  Edict 
to  guaranty  that  protection  to  the  Confessions  within  the  pale 
of  the  Evangelical  Kational  Church,  to  which  they  have  an  un- 
doubted claim,  it  could  never  be  my  intention  to  disturb,  still  less 
to  repeal,  the  Union  of  the  two  Evangelical  Confessions  founded 
by  my  royal  father,  now  resting  in  Grod ;  and  thereby  to  bring 
about  a  schism  in  the  National  Church,  which,  as  is  shown  in  the 
Report  of  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council,  could  not  take 
place  without  throwing  into  confusion  legal  relations  that  have 
subsisted  for  a  long  series  of  years,  laying  burdens  on  many  con- 
sciences, and  renewing  the  old  hostiUty  between  the  Confessions. 
I  expect  that  the  members  of  the  Supreme  Ecclesiastical  Council 
and  of  the  Provincial  Consistories  will  ever  adhere  to  this  point 
of  view,  and  wiK  set  themselves  against  all  the  inferences  at  va- 
riance therewith  which  have  been  drawn  from  my  Edict.  In 
particular,  however,  it  is  requisite  most  conscientiously  to  watch 
that  the  order  of  the  Qhurch  be  not  undermined  by  efforts  in 
behalf  of  the  distinctive  Confessions ;  and  there  should  be  no  re- 
currence of  such  cases  as  are  said  to  have  taken  place,  where 
Synodal  Assemblies,  or  even  single  clergymen,  have  resolved  to 
renounce  on  behalf  of  the  congregation  the  title  of  "Evan- 
gelical," and  the  use  of  the  Union-Liturgy.  It  is  the  duty  of  the 
ecclesiastical  authorities  to  take  care  that  such  attempts  to  in- 
fringe the  order  of  the  Church  do  not  remain  unpunished,  and 
that  departures  from  the  regulations  of  the  EvangeUcal  National 
Church  in  the  case  of  single  congregations  be  not  taken  into 
consideration  by  them  except  upon  the  unanimous  petition  of 
the  clergyman  and  congregation,  and  be  not  suffered  to  take 
place  untn  after  all  means  of  admonition  be  exhausted,  and  after 
they  have  represented  in  the  liveliest  colors  the  heavy  responsi- 

19 


434  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  X. 

bility  in  thq  eye  of  the  Lord,  which  a  division  of  his  Church 
calls  down  upon  the  head  of  its  authors,  and  all  who  take  part 
in  it. 

(Signed)  Frederio  William. 

Sans  Souci,  July  12th,  1863. 


E. 

Royal  Cabinet  Letter  to  the  Pastors  of  the  Wittenberg 
Conference  of  the  11th  of  October,  1853. 

The  Address  which  has  been  presented  to  me  by  the  Witten- 
berg Conference  of  Evangehcal  Pastors  of  the  Lutheran  Con- 
fession, dated  the  27th  of  September,  has  on  the  one  hand  been 
received  by  me  with  pleasure,  as  a  testimony  to  the  authority  of 
the  regulations  of  the  National  Church,  but  on  the  other  has 
caused  me  profound  pain,  as  a  proof  of  the  misleading  influences 
exerted  by  the  mistrust  of  authority  peculiar  to  our  age,  even  on 
believing  and  faithful  servants  of  the  Word.  For  it  is  at  once  a 
confession  of  mistrust  and  of  pusillanimity,  when  you  say  that 
the  words  of  my  order  of  the  12th  of  last  July  admit  the  con- 
struction "  that  it  is  only  the  disorders  which  have  arisen  from 
the  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  distinctive  Confessions  against  which 
steps  are  to  be  taken,"  and  yet,  influenced  by  weakness  and  ill- 
disposed  persons,  sufier  yourselves  to  doubt  if  this  be  the  true 
construction,  instead  of  trusting  in  your  King,  while  looking 
back  to  all  that  I  have  done  during  the  thirteen  years  of  my 
reign  for  the  protection  of  the  righteous,  and  even  of  the  erro- 
neous, efforts  on  behalf  of  the  distinctive  Confessions  within  the 
Evangehcal  Church.  Had  you  taken  such  a  retrospect,  as  your 
duty  toward  me  would  have  led  you  to  do,  you  would  have  ad- 
hered to  the  correct  interpretation  of  my  said  order  of  the  12th 
of  July,  and  would  not  have  allowed  yourselves  to  be  shaken  in 
your  well  grounded  conviction,  that  my  order  of  the  6th  of 
March,  1852,  remains  inviolate.  Having  thus  put  you  in  mind 
of  your  duty  toward  myself,  I  require  from  you  that  you  should, 
each  in  his  own  Circle,  give  your  public  testimony  to  the  true 
interpretation  of  the  order  of  the  12th  of  July,  as  you  ought  to 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  X.  435 

have  done  ere  now.  While  thus  recalling  to  your  remembrance 
how  clearly  I  have  displayed,  from  the  commencement  of  my 
reign,  and  especially  by  my  order  of  the  6th  of  March,  1852, 
my  firm  resolve  that  the  hberties  and  pecuKarities  of  the  Con- 
fessions existing  in  the  EvangeUcal  National  Church  of  Prussia 
be  held  sacred,  I  must  at  the  same  time  warn  you  against  the  at- 
tempt to  impart  to  the  distinctive  Confessions  such  a  degree  of 
authority  as  to  endanger  the  unity  of  the  Church,  or  render  its 
government  impossible.  By  taking  such  a  course  you  would 
soon  arrive  at  a  point  in  which  you  would  find  yourselves  no 
longer  able  to  yield  that  respect  and  obedience  to  the  regulations 
of  the  Church  which  you  now  acknowledge  to  be  your  duty. 
You  would  thereby  draw  down  upon  your  heads  a  responsibility 
at  all  times  heavy,  but  which  would  be  overwhelming  in  these 
days,  when  the  foes  of  the  Gospel  are  rising  up  on  all  sides 
against  the  Word.  Remember  the  threatenings  which  this  very 
Word  of  Grod  contains  against  those  who  divide  the  Church,  and 
thank  the  Lord  of  the  Church  that  he  has  placed  you  in  an  age 
in  which,  after  long  waiting,  longing,  and  praying,  on  the  part 
of  believers,  a  Union  of  the  Churches  has  started  into  life  instead 
of  division,  and  has  already  existed  for  thirty-six  years  in  many 
parts  of  our  fatherland.  Let  the  sore  calamities  which  the  hos- 
tility of  the  two  Confessions  brought  upon  the  EvangeHcal 
Churches  during  the  16th  and  17th  centuries  be  a  warning  to 
you ;  let  the  strength  which  you  derive  from  your  strict  and  un- 
faltering adherence  to  the  Symbols  of  your  own  Confession  be 
devoted  to  the  service  of  the  collective  Evangelical  Church,  and 
do  not  turn  this  strength  against  that  Church  within  which  both 
the  Evangelical  Confessions  are  weU  able  to  find  room,  and  are 
sure  of  mutual  protection  and  defense  against  their  common 
enemies.  And  at  all  times  examine  most  seriously  where  the 
dangers  to  the  Lutheran  Confession  which  you  apprehend  are 
reaUy  to  be  found,  that  you  may  not  be  induced  by  imaginary 
grievances  to  take  steps  which  might  easily  be  interpreted  by 
your  enemies  as  attempts  to  break  down  ecclesiastical  order. 

Griven  at  Sans  Souci,  11th  October,  1853. 

(Signed)         Frederio  William. 

To  Deacon  Hoflfman  in  Wittenberg,  and  his  companions. 


436  APPENDIX  TO   LETTER  X. 


R 


EYANGELICAL  CONSENSUS  AS  AGREED  UPON  BY 
THE  GENERAL  SYNOD  OE  PRUSSIA  OF  1846. 

In  its  leading  principles  this  Consensus  consists : 

First,  in  the  Confession  by  which  the  Reformation  asserts  its 
agreement  with  the  ancient  Apostohc  Christian  Church,  and  re- 
nounces the  heresies  which  destroy  or  alter  the  historical  ground- 
work and  character  of  Christianity,  namely,  in  the  confession  of 
the  triune,  eternal,  omniscient,  and  holy  God,  the  Creator  and 
Preserver  of  the  world,  who  has  revealed  Himself  to  us  as 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost;  likewise  of  the  Incarnation  of 
the  only-begotten  Son  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  the  other 
facts  of  the  Gospel  on  which  the  Apostles  based  their  preaching 
and  the  Christian  Church,  and  which  are  contained  in  the  imi- 
versal  Creeds  of  Christendom. 

Secondly,  this  Consensus  consists  in  the  principle  unanimously 
declared  that  all  the  traditions  of  the  Church  are  made  condi- 
tional on,  and  are  hmited  by,  the  supreme  respect  due  to  the 
canonical  Holy  Scriptures ;  that  the  decision  of  all  doctrinal  con- 
troversies which  may  arise  in  the  Church  does  not  rest  en  the 
verdict  of  an  infallible  office  of  teaching,  but  on  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, which  are  of  themselves  sufficient  and  inteUigible;  and 
that  the  apocryphal  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  although  more 
or  less  made  use  of  by  the  two  Evangelical  Confessions,  yet  do 
not  belong  to  this  basis  of  doctrines  concerning  Faith  and  the 
Commandments  of  God. 

Further,  the  Consensus  consists  in  the  doctrine  that  man  has 
fallen  into  sin,  not  by  the  will  and  according  to  the  providential 
dispensation  of  God,  who  is  not  the  author  of  evil,  but  by  the 
self-will  of  the  creature ;  and  that  he  is  worthy  of  condemnation 
on  account  of  sin ;  that  the  same  natural  man,  though,  indeed, 
of  his  own  power  able  to  work  out  a  righteousness  for  himself  as 
a  citizen  of  this  world,  is  not  able  to  fulfill  the  Divine  law  in  its 
essence,  or  to  merit  forgiveness  of  his  sins  from  God ;  that,  never- 
theless, the  mercy  of  God  has  not  forsaken  the  human  race,  but 
has  been  manifested  to  it  in  various  ways,  and  finally  by  the 
sending  of  His  Son  into  the  world,  who  has  accomplished  our 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  X.  437 

redemption,  as  our  only  mediator,  and  whose  work  as  our  High 
Priest  excludes  every  other  satisfaction  for  sin,  whether  re- 
garded as  necessary  to  complete  that  satisfaction,  or  in  any  way 
to  be  added  to  it ;  while  his  kingly  office  excludes  any  human 
sovereignty  over  the  Church.  The  Evangelical  Churcli  of  both 
Confessions  is  no  less  agreed  in  the  doctrine  that  God  justifies 
the  sinner  of  His  mere  mercy,  through  faith  in  the  reconciliation 
made  by  Christ;  and  in  their  doctrine  concerning  good  works, 
which  proceed  from  love  as  the  fruits  and  testimonies  of  a  living 
faith,  and  are  necessary  for  God's  sake,  who  has  commanded  them, 
and  to  whose  glory  they  are  performed. 

From  these  propositions  it  is  clear  that  the  two  Confessions  are 
in  harmony  with  each  other  as  regards  the  doctrines  of  Repent- 
ance, Regeneration,  and  daily  Renewal. 

This  Consensus  consists  further  in  the  declaration  unanimously 
put  fbrth  by  the  Reformers  concerning  the  impossibility  of  any 
good  works  which  exceed  the  demands  of  the  law,  as  also  that 
the  perfect  imitation  of  Christ  to  be  striven  after  by  His  servants 
is  not  to  be  attained  external  to,  but  within  the  natural  conditions 
of  life  ordained  by  God,  such  as  marriage,  and  all  the  domestic 
and  civil  relations. 

It  consists  further  in  the  doctrines  acknowledged  by  the  Church 
with  regard  to  the  means  of  grace  and  the  ordinances  of  the 
Church ;  that  the  Church,  whose  truth  is  to  be  recognized  by  the 
purity  of  her  doctrine  and  the  scriptural  administration  of  the 
Sacraments,  is,  indeed,  essentially  the  Congregation  of  the  Saints 
or  Behevers,  but  that  she  does  not  presume  to  judge  men's  hearts, 
nor  to  make  the  efficacy  of  the  means  of  grace  dependent  on  the 
dispositions  and  worthiness  of  those  who  administer  them ;  that, 
nevertheless,  she  has  authority  to  build  up  those  whom  God  has 
called  into  her  fold  by  instruction  and  exhortation,  as  also  by  her 
order  and  discipline,  and  to  purify  herself  from  offenses ;  that 
the  Office  of  the  Ministry  is  of  Divine  institution,  and  to  be  filled 
up  by  men  regularly  appointed  thereunto ;  that  she  can  not  rec- 
ognize any  mission  or  illumination  which  departs  from  the  out- 
ward Word  of  God  as  contained  in  Holy  Scripture ;  that  Bap- 
tism and  the  Lord's  Supper,  as  the  only  sacramental  institutions 
of  the  New  Testament,  are  to  continue  till  the  coming  of  the 
Lord ;  that  they  do  not  bring  blessing  and  grace  by  virtue  of 
the  external  performance  of  the  rites,  but  by  virtue  of  the 


438  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  X. 

promises  of  God,  which  demand  and  enkindle  faith;  and  that 
it  is  incumbent  on  the  Church  to  estabhsh  institutions  for 
the  celebration  of  public  worship — the  administration  of  the 
sacraments — the  regulation  of  morahty — and  also  the  care  of  the 
poor ;  remembering  only  that  such  works  and  institutions  shall 
not  offend  against  the  Grospel,  nor  be  regarded  as  essential  to 
salvation,  nor  unalterable  in  their  nature. 

Lastly,  the  Consensus  consists  in  those  doctrines  concerning 
things  to  come,  which  are  already  contained  in  the  Creeds  of 
universal  Christendom,  and  in  aU  that  appertains  to  our  hope  in 
Christ  under  crosses  and  sufferings,  and  in  the  general  doctrine 
concerning  the  Christian  life  and  a  blessed  death. 

Side  by  side  with  the  Consensus,  which  lays  the  deepest 
foundation  for  Christian  brotherhood  in  the  Evangelical  Churches, 
there  does,  indeed,  subsist  a  difference  of  doctrine  concerning  the 
Sacraments  in  general,  and  more  especially  concerrdng  the  Lord's 
Supper,  concerning  Confession  and  the  office  of  the  Keys,  and 
concerning  the  Election  of  G-race ;  which  difference  has  arisen 
within  the  pale  of  the  Eeformation,  and  is  expressed  more  or  less 
clearly  in  the  distinctive  Creeds  of  the  Protestant  Churches. 
Apart,  however,  from  the  circumstance  that  these  differences  are 
not  found  in  their  most  stringent  form  in  those  German  Confes- 
sions of  Faith  which  have  obtained  the  most  wide-spread  author- 
ity, and  that  for  the  most  part  they  have  gradually  resolved 
themselves  into  a  multiplicity  of  theological  interpretations  and 
private  opinions  of  individual  Christians,  arid  a  fresh  exposition 
of  the  points  of  disagreement  having  been  made  by  both  sides, 
in  the  manner  indicated  at  the  Conference  held  in  Leipzig, 
concerning  the  Articles  of  the  Augsburg  Confession  and  other 
documents,  it  appears  that,  even  with  regard  to  these  distinctive 
doctrines  themselves,  a  Consensus  of  considerable  extent  may  be 
attained,  which  points  toward  a  common  foundation  in  Scripture, 
and  may  be  now  declared  in  the  following  terms,  subject  to  any 
further  modification  that  may  be  agreed  upon :  Namely,  as  re- 
gards the  doctrine  of  Election,  that  which  is  contained  in  the  fol- 
lowing propositions,  and  which  constitutes  the  practical  aspect  of 
the  dogmt,  may  be  regarded  as  the  unambiguous  Confession  of 
the  Evangelical  Church : 

1.  Since  it  is  the  wUl  of  God,  as  revealed  in  Christ,  that  the 
sinner  should  not  die,  but  live — ^namely,  that  he  should  suffer 


APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  X.  439 

himself  to  be  converted  by  the  preaching  of  the  cross,  and  be 
saved  by  faith — the  gracious  calling  of  God  is  truly,  and  indeed, 
extended  to  all  hearers  of  the  Gospel. 

2.  Those,  however,  who  are  effectually  called,  ought  not  to 
ascribe  it  to  their  running  or  the  merits  of  their  faith,  but  solely 
to  the  mercy  and  election  of  their  God,  who  has  made  them  ac- 
ceptable in  the  Beloved,  and  those  who  do  not  obtain  salvation 
have  not  to  ascribe  it  to  the  impotence  of  the  Gospel,  nor  the  in- 
efficacy  of  God's  gracious  calling,  but  to  their  own  disobedience 
toward  the  Gospel,  and  their  own  striving  against  the  spirit  of 
grace. 

3.  Those,  however,  who,  being  justified  by  faith,  have  peace 
with  God,  and  bring  forth  the  fruits  of  righteousness,  may,  under 
heavy  assaults,  take  comfort  in  beheving  that  the  grace  which 
they  have  received  in  becoming  believers  is  not  temporal  and 
perishable,  but  that  an  eternal  purpose  and  counsel  of  the  love  of 
God  has  been  revealed  in  them,  and  in  the  strength  of  this  con- 
solation strive  to  make  their  calling  and  election  sure. 

As  touching  the  Sacraments,  the  same  EvangeUcal  Church 
teaches  with  one  accord  that : 

1.  Christ,  in  fellowship  with  whom  is  our  salvation,  has  ob- 
tained this  salvation  for  us,  and  appropriates  it  to  us.  The  means 
by  which  His  grace  operates  are  preaching  and  the  seals  of  His 
covenant.  The  seals  of  the  covenant  of  grace  are  two,  namely. 
Baptism,  and  the  Lord's  Supper;  the  former  serves  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  the  whole  life  in  covenant  with  the  Saviour,  the 
latter  aids  the  fulfilling,  renewal,  and  porfecting  of  the  same. 
What  is  aUke  in  both  is  that  they  are  acts  ordained  by  Christ  in 
the  Church,  to  which  are  attached  a  mystery  and  a  promise,  and 
are  performed  in  the  words  which  He  has  prescribed,  by  which  a 
participation  in  Him  and  His  salvation  is  not  merely  typified  and 
offered,  but  pledged  and  secured.  It  is  not  the  faith  of  the  re- 
cipient, but  the  grace  of  the  invisible  giver  which  works  this 
blessing,  which  blessing  can  neither  be  secured  nor  frustrated  at 
the  will  of  the  visible  administrant,  but  may  be  changed  into  a 
curse  and  a  judgment  by  the  impenitence  and  hypocrisy  of  the 
recipient. 

2.  Baptism  is  a  holy  rite  of  the  Christian  Church,  by  which  a 
justifying  and  quickening  fellowship  with  the  Kedeemer  is  com- 
menced in  the  hearts  of  the  Called ;  and  since  the  Lord  Himself 


440  APPENDIX  TO  LETTER  X. 

has  commanded  us  to  bring  children  to  Him  that  He  may  bless 
them  and  give  them  his  salvation,  it  may,  and  ought  to  be  im- 
parted to  those  of  tender  years,  vt^ho  are  thereby  received  into 
the  sphere  of  the  operations  of  His  grace. 

3.  The  Holy  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  is  the  seal  and 
means  of  a  personal  and  a. common  covenant  of  grace  with  the 
Lord,  or  the  true  communion  of  His  Body  and  Blood,  founded 
by  Christ  vp-hen  He  instituted  the  blessing  of  the  Bread  and  of 
the  Cup,  in  which  He  communicates  to  us  the  virtues  of  His  life 
and  the  blessings  of  His  redemption  from  sin  and  death,  that  we 
may  be  able  to  renew  our  strength,  and  to  come  off  more  than 
conquerors  in  the  warfare  with  the  flesh,  the  world,  and  the 
devil 

Finally,  as  touching  Confession  and  the  office  of  the  Keys,  we 
confess  that  the  Church  has,  through  the  Apostles,  received 
authority,  not  only  to  preach  the  word  of  repentance  to  recon- 
ciliation, but  also  to  announce  to  such  as  confess  their  sins  and 
turn  to  God,  forgiveness  in  God's  name,  on  condition  of  a  re- 
pentant and  believing  temper  of  mind,  and  to  refuse  it  to  such  as 
live  in  open  vice,  and  neither  confess  unto  repentance,  nor  ex- 
hibit any  fruits  thereof. 


THE    END. 


[UlfI7BESIT7! 


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